{{short description|British para-alpine skier}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}} {{MedalTableTop|}} {{MedalSport | Paralympic alpine skiing}} {{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}}}} {{MedalCompetition|Winter Paralympic Games}} {{MedalBronze | 1992 Albertville/Tignes | Downhill LW10}} {{MedalBronze | 1992 Albertville/Tignes | Giant slalom LW10}} {{MedalBronze | 1992 Albertville/Tignes | Super-G LW10}} {{MedalBronze | 1994 Lillehammer | Super-G LWX}} {{MedalBottom}}
'''Matthew Stockford''' is a British former Paralympic skier who won medals at the 1992 Winter Paralympics and 1994 Winter Paralympics.<ref name=skimedals>{{cite web|title=Brief History |publisher=British Disabled Ski Team |url=http://www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/uploads/fck/file/The%20British%20Disabled%20Ski%20Team%20Media%20Pack.pdf |accessdate=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305221636/http://www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/uploads/fck/file/The%20British%20Disabled%20Ski%20Team%20Media%20Pack.pdf |archivedate=5 March 2012 }}</ref> Stockford broke his back in a skiing accident in 1985. He competed using a monoski – a specially fitted chair over a single ski that includes seat belts and other strapping, as well as a suspension device to minimise wear and tear on the skier's body.<ref name="Palaestra">{{cite journal|last=Abood|first=Thomas|title=Winter park – Jackson Village ... the two world championships ... Alpine and Nordic skiing|journal=Palaestra|date=22 September 1990|volume=6|issue=5|pages=34–37|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/print/PrintArticle.aspx?id=9324490|accessdate=13 April 2011}}</ref>
==Skiing career==
In his first competitive event after his accident, The 1990 World Disabled Ski Championships, Stockford won a gold medal in the downhill and bronze in the slalom.<ref name="Palaestra"/>
===Paralympics=== Stockford first competed at the Winter Paralympics during the 1992 Games held in Tignes and Albertville, France. He took part in four alpine skiing events, downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom, in the LW10 classification for athletes who race sitting down.<ref name="Athlete results">{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/matthew-stockford |title=Matthew Stockford |website=Paralympic.org |publisher=International Paralympic Committee |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/Sport/SportProfiles/Alpine%20Skiing.aspx |title=Sport Profiles, Alpine Skiing |publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee |accessdate=12 April 2011 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912232837/http://www.paralympic.org.au/Sport/SportProfiles/Alpine%20Skiing.aspx |archivedate=12 September 2009 }}</ref> He won three bronze medals in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom events.<ref name=skimedals/><ref name="parateam">{{Cite news|last=Ramsay |first=Alix|title=Champion tries a secret weapon| work=The Times|at=Sport section |date=4 April 1992}}</ref> After Stockford won the bronze in downhill, the British delegation filed a protest claiming that the two American skiers ahead of him should not have been in the LW10 category.<ref name="protest">{{Cite news|last=Ramsay |first=Alix|title=Ski team protests| work=The Times|at=Sport section |date=30 March 1992}}</ref> The medical committee rejected the protest on the grounds that all classifications had been determined at the start of the competition. In the slalom Stockford finished fourth, missing out on a medal by one position and 10.65 seconds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Results Tignes-Albertville 1992 Paralympic Winter Games Alpine Skiing Men's Slalom LW10|url=http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Results/results.html?eclass=LW10&sport=alpine&competition=1992PWG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Slalom|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=13 April 2011}}</ref>
At the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Stockford again competed in downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom events in a classification now renamed as LWX. He failed to finish in the downhill slalom or giant slalom but picked up his fourth Paralympic bronze medal in the super-G.<ref name="Athlete results"/> Since this bronze, and the four others won by British athletes in Lillehammer, Britain has failed to win any Paralympic alpine skiing medals.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kelly Gallagher claims fourth at Winter Paralympics|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/disability_sport/8571548.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=13 April 2011|date=19 March 2010}}</ref>
Stockford now runs a successful property business in London. In 2006 Stockford became the manager of British Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott after meeting her sister-in-law's father at a party. He helped Alcott set up a team of support staff and raise funding from private sources with the aim of winning a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.<ref>{{cite news|title=Team Chemmy: Bankrolling Alcott's blonde ambition|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/team-chemmy-bankrolling-alcotts-blonde-ambition-398420.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/team-chemmy-bankrolling-alcotts-blonde-ambition-398420.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=13 April 2011|newspaper=The Independent|date=1 November 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Chemmy Alcott: Beauty and the piste|url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/153774/Chemmy-Alcott-Beauty-and-the-piste|accessdate=13 April 2011|newspaper=The Express|date=24 January 2010}}</ref>
==Climate Change Denial==
Matthew believes that anthropological climate change is a global scam and that the Paris Accords are set up to transfer manufacturing "from the west to the east".<ref>{{cite web|title=twitter|url = https://twitter.com/MsStockford/status/1323936029900972033|accessdate=4 November 2020}}</ref>
==See also== *Great Britain at the 1992 Winter Paralympics *Great Britain at the 1994 Winter Paralympics *Alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Paralympics *Alpine skiing at the 1994 Winter Paralympics
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IPC athlete|matthew-stockford}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockford, Matthew}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:British male alpine skiers Category:Paralympic alpine skiers for Great Britain Category:Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Category:Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing Category:Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Paralympics Category:Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1992 Winter Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1994 Winter Paralympics