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CSUSM Student Helps USA Bring Home the Gold
By: Melanie Addington

Guillou in Sydney

Daniel Guillou, a current CSUSM student, competed in the Paralympic games in Sydney last week. As part of the USA wheelchair rugby (WR) team, Guillou helped his team win against Sweden on October 25, Australia on October 26, and Australia again on October 29 for the gold medal. The WR game was the final event for the 2000 Paralympic Games.  

The Americans easily beat Sweden on Wednesday night but Thursday’s competition was fierce. On Thursday, Guillou was excited at the chance of winning a medal but wasn’t sure his team would beat the “Aussies.” With a stadium full of Aussie fans and a small group of American supporters, the fans showed great enthusiasm for the game. Although hundreds of flags were waving, only three American flags stood out in the crowd. Much to the American fans chagrin, some Aussies yelled for the “Yanks to go home,” yet other Aussies cheered the USA team and their supporters on.  

In the very beginning, Australia led by two to three points but then the score bounced back and forth between the Aussies and Americans. When the Americans first scored, an Australian fan leaned over to the American fans and remarked, “Your team is not playing fair.” When it was pointed out that if the Aussies had made the same move, however, the ecstatic fan shouted, “Yeah but it’s a double-standard here!” One team would lead for half a quarter, but then the other would tie it up and leave the crowd in suspense and hanging on to every move the team made.  

As the game neared the end, the Americans had a one-point lead, but managed to keep it until the end of the fourth quarter. Then the Americans scored again, giving them a cushiony two-point lead. With two minutes left to go, the Aussies scored one last point leaving them with 27 points. Luckily, the Americans scored again and the game ended with the unbelievably close score of 29 (US) to 27 (AUS). After the game, a Sydney native and Rugby fan, Jim shouted over the deafening crowd, “Damn good game…one of the best I’ve seen. These [the Paralympics] are the real Olympics. This is what it is about.” 

2000 Paralympic United States Team
The USA Wheelchair Rugby team consists of twelve athletes: Cliff Chunn and Bryan Kirkland of Alabama, Wayne Romero and Eddie Crouch of Tennessee, Norm Lyduch of Texas, Bill Renje of Colorado, and Dean Maccabe and Steve Pate of California. San Diegans include, Rick Draney, Daniel Guillou, Troy McGuirk and Ralph Shadowens. 

Guillou broke his neck in 1986 when diving into the shallow end of a public pool. He was only sixteen years old when he became a quadriplegic. Guillou, a math major, took the semester off to prepare for the games. This is Guillou’s first Paralympic competition. 

According to the Olympic Committee, Dan Guillou is one of the founding members (1993) of the Sharp Shadow WR Team from Southern California. Guillou's Shadow team has never placed lower than 5th at the national championships. His Shadow squad finished as the USQRA National Champions from 1996-98.

#11 Dan Guillou warms up before Championship

As stated in his Paralympic athlete profile, “since starting to play rugby in 1991, Guillou has won many all-tournament team awards including his selection to the 1999, '96 and '95 National Championship All-Tournament teams and one Sportsmanship Award. Guillou was also on the 1993 USA Wheelchair Rugby Team that won a gold medal at The Stoke-Mandeville International Wheelchair Games in England.” 

How to Play Wheelchair Rugby
Commonly referred to as “murder ball”, rugby (and wheelchair rugby) consists of several sports; basketball, volleyball and ice hockey played on a basketball court. The game is played in four eight-minute quarters.

Wheelchair Rugby is for quadriplegics, meaning all of the athletes have some paralysis in all four limbs. All of the athletes use manual wheelchairs and full chair contact is legal. The Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association states, “as a sport specifically created for quadriplegics, wheelchair rugby is truly an emerging sport, rather than and adapted or modified version of an already existing able-bodied sport.”

A volleyball is used and can be carried, dribbled or passed, but not kicked. The ball must be bounced every ten seconds. The offensive team has fifteen seconds to come out of its own half of the court. Violation of the rules results in a turnover of the ball. According to the International WR Federation, the most common fouls are: interference, holding, charging and spinning. The goal is to carry the ball over the opponent’s eight-meter long goal line, which results in the scores.

The teams consist of four players and eight substitutes. The players are classified from 0.5 (lowest) to 3.5 (highest) according to their abilities. Dan Guillou ranks as a 0.5 and states that he is primarily on the court for defensive strategy. He states that if the ball gets into his hands, “something has gone terribly wrong.” Typically, the 3.5 ranked players make most if not all of the goals. Troy McGuirk is the highest ranked American with a 3.0. He is the fastest and has the most maneuverability of his teammates, but the level of their paralysis and not their skill is how all athletes are ranked.

History 
Wheelchair rugby was formed in 1977 in Canada. In 1989, the first International Competition was held in Toronto. In 1990, the World Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games held WR. Dan Guillou participated in the 1993 USA team that won the gold medal in those games. The first of three European Zone Championships were held in Sweden in 1995. In that same year, the International Paralympic Committee granted WR a Paralympic Sport status.

For more stories on Team USA visit the Sports Page

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