Alper Ali
Kent Connections include: Herne Bay,
Canterbury, Dover, Deal
Paralympic Sport: Powerlifting
Paralympic Games: 1984, 1988, 1992
Sources include:
As a schoolboy Alper Ali used to play wheelchair basketball with
team members from different disability groups. He started
powerlifting and also swimming at a local club.
He lived in Herne Bay in the 1980s and 1990s,
and worked as a senior building estimator for Wiltshiers, the
builders, of Canterbury.
His wife Rosemary, a coach, trainer and qualified teacher of
swimming for disabled people, was instrumental in developing his
sporting career.
He became a strong distance swimmer, and in 1981, as part of a
team of 6 disabled swimmers, he swam the English Channel in a race
against an Egyptian team.
In 1982, he completed a Channel team swim from England to
France/ France to England.
In 1984, he was selected for the Great Brtish powerlifting team
for the Paralympics, where he won a Bronze medal;
In the early 1990s, Alper & Rosemary Ali set up the British
Disabled Power Lifting Association. They act as judges in
National and International Disabled Powerlifting events.
A filmed interview with Alper Ali features on the Suffolk Lap of
Honour website.
