Stephen Murray (BMX rider)

Stephen Murray (born 9 January 1980 in Newcastle, England) is a former BMX Dirt rider. On Friday 22 June 2007 at the Dew Action Sports Tour BMX Dirt Finals in Baltimore, Maryland, Murray took a catastrophic fall attempting a double back flip on the final jump in the dirt section. He received career ending injuries to his spinal cord and vertebrae and is paralyzed below the shoulders.

Recent reports have shown that he can shrug his shoulders, move his toes, his index, and thumb fingers.

Murray was a seven-time expert British champion and six-time UK National champion before the age of 16. During his professional BMX career, Murray was known for his double back flips, 360 back flips, and turndown back flips. He won the gold medal in BMX Dirt in the Summer 2001 X Games and won gold medals in BMX Dirt at the Gravity Games in back to back years (2001 and 2002). He was nominated for ESPN 'BMX rider of the year'.

Murray is no longer married, but has two sons. He resides in Riverside, California.

Since the accident, Murray worked closely with the doctor that treated Christopher Reeve after the actor's accident left him quadriplegic. He now has limited movement in his toes and is also gaining more movements in his hands and hopes to move to a wheelchair that he can hand operate opposed to the one he currently has that he operates with his head.

External links

• Online photo-biography