David Smith (boccia)

David John Smith (born 2 March 1989 in Eastleigh) is a Paralympian who made his Paralympic debut on the British boccia team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and did so winning Bronze in the Team BC1–2. and Silver in the BC1 individual event watched by a record Boccia crowd at the Excel arena. David competed for Paralympics GB for a third time in Rio where he won Gold in the individual BC1 event for the first time in his career. David held the 'triple crown' of major tournament wins following his win at the World Championships in Liverpool 2018 until the World Championships in Rio 2022 where he claimed Silver. David is now the holder of three Paralympic Gold Medals, after winning at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, making him the most decorated British Boccia player in history and the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic title, He was selected to carry the GB flag in the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony.

Early life and family
He was born at Southampton General Hospital, the son of Mary Windless (1952–present) and Clive Smith (1953–present). David was the first of two children; he was born two years before his sister Dawn. David was brought up in Eastleigh.

Early years and Primary school
David was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at one year of age and went to a developmental centre in Winchester for disabled children. At age three, he went to Cedar School, Southampton for special needs children. David first played boccia at age six at Cedar School when the school competed at the national junior games in Stoke Mandeville. Throwing sideways, David never really won a game and the sport took time to ignite his interest. The school struggled to challenge David and his potential to learn was being held back by the lack of academic ability of his peers.

Secondary school
After a long battle with the council, David's parents managed to get David a place at Treloar School. At age eleven, David changed schools and went to Treloar School in September 2000. Immediately David began to flourish, and he developed his talent for boccia, drumming, wheelchair hockey, wheelchair football and para-athletics. He became the youngest-ever player to win the British Boccia Championships at the age of fourteen and won numerous national titles in other sports. David was elected head boy in 2004 and managed the wheelchair hockey and football sessions.

College
The move to college was straightforward for David as it was the same organisation. Whilst at Treloar College, David attended Alton College to complete his A'levels in physics and maths. The demands of his, now international, boccia career meant that a lot of the hobbies he had at school had to be phased out.

University
After the Beijing Paralympics, David went to Swansea University to study aerospace engineering. Due to Boccia, David took six years to complete his degree. However, David was able to set up a permanent base in Swansea with the sports support services and facilities necessary to remain successful.

Early career
David joined the England and Wales squad in 2004 soon after his first British title. His international debut followed the same year. He attended the European Championships in 2005, his first Major ranking international. There he beat the world-ranked number 6 player 6–0 in a pool game and went to the quarter-finals. In the team event, he helped England secure a silver medal. He had a disappointing second major in 2006, this time representing Great Britain, where he finished 13th and the team received a bronze at the World Championships in Rio. In 2007, he became a double world champion at the age of 18. David competed in Beijing in 2008 but only managed 13th individually. The team did much better, achieving a Paralympic Gold.

Middle career
After Beijing, David built up a friendship with Sarah Nolan who in 2010 became his coach. New management in the GB squad helped David untie the bad practices of the previous era and slowly the sport became professional. In 2009, David won his first Europeans to become a world-ranked number 1 for the first time. In 2010, David and the team lost in the quarter-finals to Tadtong of Thailand at the World Championships. Drastic changes were needed, and Sarah started reworking how David played the game to suit the new style of play from Asia. In 2011, Sarah became David's permanent on-court assistant. In 2012, David won two medals at the Paralympics for the first time.

In 2013, Claire Morrison became David's coach while Sarah remained his on-court assistant. David took over as team captain, and won double gold at the Europeans that year.

In 2014, David became world champion for a second time winning the final spectacularly 8–2.

In 2015, David captained the team to another European gold and the team gained an automatic slot for the Rio Paralympics.

In 2016, David claimed bronze at the World Individual Championships in Beijing having lost once in the pool stages and losing again to Tadtong.

In Rio, David recovered from the disappointment of team failure and the loss of a must-win pool game to beat his long-term Thailand rival for the first time. After 8 years, David became an Individual Paralympic champion.

Late career
Glynn Tromans took over coaching after Rio and David won the European championships for the third time, remaining undefeated during the whole 2017 season. In 2018, David reclaimed his World title at the World Championships in Liverpool completing the "Triple Crown" by being the reigning Paralympic, European and World champion.

In 2019, David defended his European title, automatically qualifying for Tokyo in the process.

Restart
David's first competitive competition was the Paralympics in Tokyo. After suffering a few technical issues in the pool, David found his top form for the quarters, semis and final matches. David played live on C4 for the first time in front of millions of people to win the Gold and defend his title. At the end of the year, David won his 7th European title in Seville.

Domestic Boccia
David has remained unbeaten at the annual English Nationals and GB Championships since 2004 clocking up a record 16 British and 11 National titles. In 2016, David retired from the English nationals to focus on his international career.

Personal life
David is currently based in Swansea where, after completing his degree studying aerospace engineering at Swansea University, he lives and trains full-time. He has a passion for aircraft, particularly World War II aircraft. David is a strong advocate of independent living for disabled people and a critic of successive government cuts to spending on social care. David can drive independently using his car, which is heavily adapted. He is a patron of his former school, Treloar's in Alton, and is an ambassador for the Saints Disabled Supporters' Association. David was selected to go on Dreamflight in 2003 and since then has been a regular supporter and visitor to events in successive years. One of his hobbies is drumming, and he is a keen driver and advocate of the Motability scheme.

Appearances
David has made two appearances on The Last Leg where he has performed his trademark "doughnut" in his wheelchair.

Honours and awards
David was given the Freedom of the Borough of Eastleigh in 2013.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours, both for services to boccia.