Stephen Churm

Churm was born on 16 July 1954,^[2] and is from the Sydney area^[3] in New South Wales.^[4] He has left-sided Klumpke palsy as a result of a torn brachial plexus during birth.^[2][5]

Churm is married^[6] and has three children.^[4] As of 2012^[update], he lives in Como West, New South Wales^[2] and is retired.^[6]

Churm is a sailor,^[2] and is a member of the Rushcutters Bay based Sailability Rushcutters Bay Yacht Club.^[6] As of 2012^[update], he had a sailing scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport.^[7]

Churm started sailing in 1962^[2] as a seven-year-old at the Connells Point Sailing Club in the MK1 class,^[1] racing for the first time at a club event in 1963.^[6] He won his first race in 1966 in the Conells Point SC competition when he was in the Heron ‘Mischief’. In the Heron class at the Mrs R Woods Forward hands trophy later that year, he came in first.^[1][6] He tried to qualify for the 2000 Summer Paralympics but just missed out on selection.^[5] He first represented Australia in 2002 at the World Championships, where he finished seventh alongside Jonathan Harris and Zoltan Pegan in Medemblink.^[1][2] At the 2003 Ransa Twilights, competing in the Sonar, he finished third in the second position. The following year, he finished twelfth in the third position.^[1]

Churm competed in the 2012 IFDS World Championships in the sonar event in a boat that included Colin Harrison and Jonathan Harris.^[8] It was the first time the trio had sailed together.^[5] At the 2012 Dutch-hosted World Cup, he and his teammates finished third in the Sonar Paralympic class.^[9] He competed in the Macquarie 2012 Access World Championships.^[3][4] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in sailing.^[2] He did not medal at the 2012 Games.^{[citation needed]}