| Kevin Bawden | |
| Fullname: | Kevin Wayne Bawden |
| Birth Date: | 1946 |
Kevin Wayne Bawden AM[1] (born 1946) is an Australian Paralympics competitor in six sports and a leading disability sports administrator in Australia.
Bawden was born in 1946 and lives in Adelaide, South Australia.[2] He contracted polio at the age of four and at the age of 18 became involved in sport.[3] He was employed with the Australian Government in several management roles for thirty five years until in 2001.[3] From 2001 to 2006, he was the chief executive officer of a not-for-profit organisation in Adelaide.[3]
Bawden participated in four Summer Paralympics, three as an athlete and one as an official and coach.[3] At the 1968 Tel Aviv Games, he participated in archery, dartchery, lawn bowls, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing.[4] At these Games, South Australian wheelchair athletes represented Australia for the first time. He participated in shooting, table tennis and wheelchair basketball at the 1976 Toronto Games.[4] At the 1984 Stoke Mandeville Games, he participated in shooting. He was a wheelchair sports official and assistant basketball coach at the 1988 Seoul Games.[4] Bawden won a gold medal in the Smallbore Rifle at the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin, New Zealand.[3] He participated at the FESPIC Games.[3]
He represented South Australia at twelve National Championships for wheelchair athletes.[3]
At age 19, Bawden established Wheelchair Sports Association of South Australia.[3] He was President of the Association for 28 years.[3] He was Chairman of the inaugural National Junior Disability Games.[3] At these Games, the Kevin Bawden Shield recognised his enormous contribution to junior disability sport. He was awarded Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to disability sport.[1] Australia's greatest Paralympic shooter, Libby Kosmala states that Bawden played a role in her initial involvement in shooting.[5]