Joshua O’Brien

Josh is not the kind of person who sits still.

At 17 he bungee jumped while on holiday in New Zealand, and his antics at school saw a video of him over nine chairs featured on Sportbible!

Josh was born with severe Talipes Equinovarus (club foot) and, as a child, had operations to help correct the deformity in his foot and ankle. As a result, he no longer has any movement in his ankle and has reduced strength in his leg.

Despite issues with his leg, Josh was a keen footballer and was goalkeeper for his local team. During a cup game when he was 18, he took a knee to his face. He broke his eye-socket, cheekbone and nose which resulted in roughly 20 hours of facial reconstruction surgery. He now has a 3D printed eye socket and multiple titanium plates in the right hand side of his face.

Josh learnt to row during his second year of studying at the University of Birmingham in 2021. He wanted to try a new sport after the football injury and rowing provided a great alternative and quickly became an obsession. He is very self-motivated and wants to be the best that he can possibly be. He has a natural talent for the sport and quickly settled into the senior GB Para squad. He was selected for his first Paralympic Games in 2024 and went on to become Paralympic Champion in the PR3 Mixed Coxed four (PR3 Mix4+), helping to maintain that boats 14 year unbeaten run.

When he hangs up his oars he wants to travel and put his economics degree to use in one way or another.

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