Brenden Hall is an Australian Paralympic amputee swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Personal
Hall was born on 27 May 1993 in the Queensland town of Nambour. At the age of six, he had his right leg amputated after complications from chicken pox. The disease also resulted in the loss of 70% of his hearing. Initially he was confined to a wheelchair but in the mid 2000s he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. Hall said "didn’t really care how I walked, just that I could walk". Hall attended Petrie State School. He lives in the suburb of Petrie and is studying exercise science at the University of Queensland. He is an ambassador for the Aspiration for Kids programme. and Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association's Game Changers..
Career
Before his amputation, he was a member of a mini development squad and returned to swimming after his amputation had healed. He made his international swimming debut at the 2007 Arafura Games. He was the youngest male on the Australian swimming team at the 2008 Beijing Games. He competed in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and came 5th in the final. He broke the Paralympic record in his heat. At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven he won gold medals in the Men's 400m Freestyle S9, Men's 5 km Open Water S1-S10, Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points Men's 4 x 100 m Medley Relay 34 points. In 2011, at the Queensland Swimming Championships he broke world records in the 800 m and 1500 m Freestyle events. At the 2012 London Games, he won two gold medals in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points and a bronze medal in the Men's 4 x 100 m Medley Relay 34 points. He also participated in the S9 class of the Men's 100 m Backstroke, 100 m Butterfly S9, 100 m Freestyle and 50 m Freestyle events – as well as the 200 m Individual Medley SM9. , Hall holds S9 world records in the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle events. Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he won two gold medals in the Men's 400m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay. He broke the world record in winning the Men's 400m Freestyle S9. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, he won the gold medals in the Men's 100 m Backstroke S9 and Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and bronze medals in the Men's 100 m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points. He finished fifth in the Men's 50m Freestyle S9, fifth in the Men's 100m Butterfly S9 and sixth in the Men's 200m Individual Medley SM9. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9, silver medal in the Men's 100 m Freestyle S9 and bronze medal in the Men's 100 m Backstroke S9. He also competed in the following events: Men's 100m Butterfly S9 finishing fourth, Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay placing fourth, Men's 200m Individual Medley SM9 where he was disqualified and Men's 50m Freestyle S9 not progressing to the finals. In preparation for Rio, Hall states: “The fire’s there. I love being in the water. I’m just aiming to have a good Games and defend the 400m. My training is based around the 400m. That’s the one I want to do best in.” After winning the gold medal at Rio, Hall says: “We’re very excited, very relieved, I think the party’s only begun tonight, but still got about five events to go, so hopefully we’ll figure again." At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London, he won the silver medal in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9. In 2016, Hall was a Queensland Academy of Sport scholarship holder.
