Robert Oliver

Rob Oliver is a Paralympic bronze medallist after an incredible finish to the men's KL3 final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

With a photo finish required to decide the medal, Rob clinched a fantastic third place to take his first Paralympic medal at this second Games. Rob was one of the six athletes to compete in paracanoe's Paralympic debut at Rio 2016, where he finished fifth in the men's KL3.

Riding the high of his Paralympic achievement, Rob won World Championship silver in the same event just two weeks later as part of the team that dominated the competition with ten medals in total.

Having joined the paracanoe squad through a Talent ID day back in 2011, Rob Oliver has competed on the paracanoe team for a decade with a numerous medals to his name.

Rob won a fantastic silver at the 2015 World Championships in Milan, which he describes as one of his sporting highlights to date. His other career highlight came in 2019, where Oliver won bronze and silver medals in front of his parents and brother, just five days apart in Poznan at the European Championships and World Cup respectively. The Solihull paddler concluded the season with a fifth place at the World Championships to secure the men's KL3 boat quota spot for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Rob produced some solid results in 2018, culminating with a very close 4th place in the K1 KL3 200m at the World Championships in Montemor O Velho. He also just missed out on a medal at World Cup 1 in Szeged finishing 4th in the KL3 200m race.

Rob is a talented sportsman; after a spell as a weightlifter he played football at a variety of levels from 13-19. However in 2008 he broke his leg during a match and 17 operations and nine months later he had his leg amputated due to medical negligence. He was only 20 years old and up until that point had always been very active, he felt like this area of his life had come to an end, until he found kayaking in 2011. Once he realised he could still take part in competitive sport as an amputee he decided to dedicate his life to becoming the very best.