| Cameron Leslie | |
| Birth Date: | 17 January 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Whangārei, New Zealand |
| Classification: | S5, SB3, SM4 |
| Club: | North Shore Swimming Club |
| Spouse: | Emma Leslie |
Cameron Leslie (born 17 January 1990)[1] is a New Zealand paralympics swimmer and wheelchair rugby player.
Leslie was born with a quadruple limb deficiency.[2] [3] He attended Pompallier Catholic Collage.[4] He was also a student at Auckland University of Technology (abbr. AUT; Māori: Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau). Leslie holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies from AUT.[5]
Of Māori descent, Leslie affiliates to the Ngāpuhi iwi.[6]
Leslie got into swimming at an early age, because there were few sporting options for people with disabilities.[7] As a twelve-year-old, his coach placed negative values on him. These relations and a weak debut at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships in Durban,[8] lead Leslie to nearly quit the sport.[9]
At a Have a Go Day in 2007, Leslie was introduced to wheelchair rugby. Before long he went for training with the Auckland team twice a week. Soon after, he was selected for the Wheel Blacks.
Leslie won the gold medal in the men's 150 m individual medley at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics.[10]
In 2013, he won the gold medal in the men's 150 m individual medley, and a bronze medal in the men's 50 m backstroke, at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal.[11] [12] In 2019, he won the gold medal in the men's 50 m backstroke at the World Para Swimming Championships in London. Just prior to this, he helped New Zealand's wheelchair rugby team, the Wheel Blacks, claim a bronze medal at the IWRF Asia-Oceania Championship to qualify for the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[13]
In 2008 Leslie received the New Zealand University Blues Award for Maori Sportsperson of the Year and he was also awarded Auckland University of Technology’s Male Athlete of the Year in the same year.
Leslie was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2009 New Year's Honours, for services to swimming.[14]
Leslie was appointed National Para Swimming Development Coordinator by Swimming New Zealand in September 2018. In this time, he supported the development of para swimming in 172 centres across New Zealand. In December 2019 he was then appointed as an intern on to the Board of Sport New Zealand.