Samuel von Einem

Started: "I played recreationally for a long time, but I started competing properly in 2007." (ittf.com, 05 Sep 2020) Reason: "I've always had a table tennis table at home since I was young but when I was eight, I moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with my family. It was too hot most of the time to play my usual sports which were tennis and soccer. It was then that I was introduced to table tennis because I could play it indoors and when I was 11, I started to play table tennis competitions. When I found out I could get into Para sport, that was pretty big, because I knew that I could potentially go to the Paralympics." (ittf.com, 05 Sep 2020; adelaidenow.com.au, 13 Jul 2016) Milestones: His silver medal in the TT11 singles event at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was Australia's first medal in table tennis at either the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games for 32 years. (tabletennis.org.au, 22 Feb 2017; ittf.com, 05 Sep 2020; SportsDeskOnline, 15 Apr 2021) Awards: He was named 2016 and 2020 Para Player of the Year by Table Tennis Australia. (tabletennis.org.au, 25 Nov 2020, 22 Feb 2017) He received the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability award in both 2017 and 2018 from Tennis South Australia. (Facebook page, 09 Apr 2018, 08 May 2017) Additional Info: ENDING AUSTRALIA'S MEDAL WAIT He became the first Australian table tennis player to win a medal at either the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games in 32 years when he claimed silver at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "It was a huge achievement and my career highlight to date [speaking in 2020]. I really wanted to win gold that day and that has motivated me to become a better athlete. Rio was an incredible experience and particularly amazing because it was my first Paralympic Games. Going into Rio, I was ranked sixth in my class so I wasn't expected to get as far as I did. I was competitive but I was also there to gain crucial international experience, in a totally different environment. When you get into a gold medal play-off though, you find yourself really wanting to win it but I was still very happy to come home with a medal." (ittf.com, 05 Sep 2020; tabletennis.org.au, 22 Feb 2017)