Michael Roeger

Michael Roeger
2016 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Roeger
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1988-05-14) 14 May 1988
Adelaide, South Australia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Country Australia
Sport Paralympic athletics
Medal record
Track and field (athletics) T46
Paralympic Games
2016 RioMen's 1500m - T46
IPC Athletics World Championships
2013 Lyon Men's 1500m - T46
2013 Lyon Men's 5000m - T46
2015 Doha Men's 1500m - T46

Michael Roeger (born 14 May 1988) is an Australian T46 athletics competitor. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in middle distance running events. He has three bronze medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships. He won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[1][2]

Personal

Roeger was born on 14 May 1988,[3] and is from Langhorne Creek,[4][5] South Australia.[6] He has a twin brother Chris.[7] He is missing the lower half of his right arm.[4][5][8] He played junior football at the Langhorne Creek Football Club.[4] Growing up, he played basketball, table tennis and cricket.[4] He moved away from there and to Canberra in 2009.[8] In 2012, he was a student at the University of Canberra working on a Bachelor of Communications in Advertising and Marketing.[8]

Athletics

Roeger is a T46 classified athlete, competing in 800 metres,1,500 metres and 5,000 metre events.[4][5][8] He is a member of the Adelaide area Hills District Athletic Club.[5] In 2008, when in Adelaide, he trained with Pete Davis and Marc Fairhead.[5] He has held an athletics scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport.[8] He started competing in athletics in 1999 when he competed for his high school's cross country team.[5]

At the 2008 Victorian Country Championships, Roeger set a Paralympic A qualifying time of 4:02.04 in the 1500 metres.[5] At the time, this was the second best time ever set in the world.[5] He also set qualifying times in the 800 metres and 5,000 metres.[5] As a twenty-year-old, he represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Paralympics.[4][5] He did not earn a medal at the Games.[4][8] He set a personal best time in the 1,500 metre event,[4] finishing in eighth place,[9] and came 11th place in the final of the 5,000 metres. He did not make the finals in the 800 metre event.[10] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in the 800 metres event.[3][6][8][11][12] His Paralympic training included five gym sessions a week with a focus on leg strength.[8] He competed in the Men's 800 m T46 at the 2012 London and but did not medal.[13]

Roeger at the 2012 London Paralympics

At the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, he won bronze medals in the Men's 1500m and Men's 5000m T46 events.[14][15]

In 2014, Roeger ran almost a five-second 1500 m personal best (3 minutes 51.08 seconds) on 20 March 2014 at the Victorian Milers Club. His time qualified him for the 2014 Australian Athletics Championships.[16][7] His time was just short of the world record, 3:50.2 and the second best time in his class.[7] At the Australian Championships, he took on his coach Philo Saunders, who is a physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport.[14][7] Also in 2014, he was part of the Australian Sports Commission team that represented Australia at the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in London, England.[17]

Roeger at the 2012 London Paralymnpics

During the Athletics Australia 2014/15 season, he reduced his personal best for the 1500m to 3:50.61.[18] He qualified for the Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane, Queensland Open 1500m and ran in the heats.[19]

In June 2015 in Boston, United States, Roeger ran 3:48.55 to break the Men's 1500 m T46 world record but it was not ratified as no drug test was available.[20]

At the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, he won the bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T46. After the event, Roeger said "A bronze medal is a bronze medal, I wanted more from myself today but the legs weren't there in the last lap. It's a stepping stone for Rio. This makes me so hungry for gold. It's my dream and it’s been my dream for a long time. It's about taking the positives away from this and building on them for next year".[21]

On 12 June 2016, Roeger ran 3:49.08 in the Men's 1500m at the Portland Track Festival to beak the Men's 1500m T46 world record. The record was not be ratified even though drug testing was undertaken.[22][23]

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T46.[2]

On 4 February 2017 at the inaugural Sydney Invitational, Roeger smashed the T46 1500m world record of 3:50.15 by running 3:46.51. Roeger had previously beaten the world record time but previous times were in unsanctioned events.[24]

Roeger was selected to compete at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, England but withdrew just prior to the competition due to injury.[25]

On 14 October 2018, in his debut marathon, he finished sixth in the Melbourne Marathon. His time 2:23.31 broke the previous world record of 2:26.44. After the race Roeger said "I’m over the moon to get the world record and finish on the MCG. It has been 10 years of work really, it is the third world record in the year, it is a pretty special feeling.” [26]


In 2018, he has a scholarship with the South Australian Institute of Sport and trains at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.[27]


1500m progression

Distance Time /
Distance		 Location Date
1500m3:51.08Melbourne20 March 2014
1500m3:50.61Sydney19 March 2015
1500m3:48.55BostonJune 2015
1500m3:49.08Portland12 June 2016
1500m3:46.51
Ratified World Record[28]		Sydney4 February 2017
1500m3:45.63 [29]Sydney17 March 2018

5000m progression

Distance Time /
Distance		 Location Date
5000m14:14.91
WR[30]		Canberra11 March 2016
5000m14:06.56
WR [31]		Gold Coast, Queensland15 February 2018

Marathon progression

Distance Time /
Distance		 Location Date
Marathon2:23.31
WR [26]		Melbourne14 October 2018

Recognition

Notes

  1. ↑ "Australian Paralympic Athletics Team announced". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Michael Roeger". Rio Paralympics Official site. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Michael Roeger". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Michael Simmons (2008-09-25). "Roeger does Langhorne Creek proud in Beijing". Victor Harbor Times. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Michael Simmons (2008-07-02). "From the Creek to Beijing". Victor Harbor Times. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  6. 1 2 Chris Dutton (2012-06-06). "Canberra's Paralympic athletes aim for Games glory". Australian Capital Territory: Canberra Times. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Wilson, Chris (1 April 2014). "Paralympic runner Michael Roeger taking on coach at national athletics championships". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Comino, Kristyn. "Michael prepares for Paralympic performance". University of Canberra. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  9. ↑ McGrath, Olivia (2008-09-11). "Porter delivers golden Aussie highlight -". ABC Local — Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  10. ↑ Olivia McGrath (2008-09-15). "Cowdrey, O'Hanlon lead medal haul". ABC Local — Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  11. ↑ "Australian Paralympic Team Announced". Athletics ACT. 2012-06-06. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  12. ↑ "Walters sprints for London — Teenager set for Paralympics debut". Canberra Times. Canberra, Australia. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  13. ↑ Results for Michael Roeger from the International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  14. 1 2 "Roeger wins bronze at Para champs". SBS News. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  15. ↑ July 2013 "IPC13: Ballard wins third SILVER" Check |url= value (help). Athletics Australia News. 26 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "VMC Meet 5 - 20th March 2014" (PDF). Victorian Milers Club website. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  17. ↑ Page, Fleta (19 January 2014). "Australian Sports Commission represent Australia in JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge". Canberra Times. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  18. ↑ "Allcomers 19 March 2015 - 19/03/2015 to 20/03/2015" (PDF). Athletics NSW website. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Australian Championships - Day 2 results". Athletics Australia website.
  20. ↑ Athletics Australia [@AthsAust] (12 June 2015). "run in #Boston smashing the T46 1500m WORLD RECORD!time: 3:48.55" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 June 2015 – via Twitter.
  21. ↑ "Doha 2015". Athletics Australia News. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "@michaelroeger is that 3:49.08 today". David Tarbotton twitter. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  23. ↑ "Portland Track Festival - Men's 1500m results". Portand Track website. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  24. ↑ "Sydney Invitational smashes records". Athletics NSW website. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  25. ↑ Ryner, Sascha. "A silver lining for Australia". Athletics Australia News, 16 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  26. 1 2 "Record runs by Roeger and Diver in Melbourne Marathon". Athletics Australia website.
  27. ↑ "Countdown to Rio 2016 Paralympics". South Australian Institute of Sport website. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "@michaelroeger's WORLD RECORD T46 1500m has been ratified by the @Paralympics!". Athletics Australia twitter. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  29. ↑ Aubrey, Jane. "World Records for Clifford, Roeger, as Day posts a 100m PB in Sydney". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  30. ↑ "World record for Roeger as Mitchell and Wells post London qualifiers". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  31. ↑ "#AthleticsGold: McDonald steams to 5000m victory on day one". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  32. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (24 October 2014). "Canberra runner Michael Roeger named national men's para-athlete of the year". Canberra Times. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  33. ↑ "2015 Blues and Leadership Awards". UC Life! website. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  34. ↑ "nominees for the 2015 Athlete of the Year Awards". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  35. ↑ Winchester, Bree (15 December 2016). "Meet the Cosmopolitan Bachelor of the Year Canberra finalist". Canberra Times. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  36. ↑ Kelly, Ben (6 February 2017). "Michael Roeger awarded Strathalbyn's 2017 Young Citizen of the Year award". Victor Harbour Times. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
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