Lutheran Paralympic Games hero killed

Australian Paralympic Games hero Kieran Modra was killed this month in a road accident near Gawler, north of Adelaide, when a car collided with his bicycle.

Kieran, 47, a five-time gold medallist, was a lifelong Lutheran and was a member at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Hallett Cove, in suburban Adelaide.

His vision impairment never prevented him from living life to the full and giving praise to his Lord. His testimony was a cover story for The Lutheran in both July 2000 and November 2012.

Kieran represented Australia at every Paralympic Games since Seoul in 1988, competing across three sports during that time – athletics, swimming and cycling. The Rio de Janeiro event in 2016 was his eighth Paralympic Games.

As well as his gold medals, he won five Paralympic bronze medals, as well as two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He was set to retire after London 2012, but in 2014, after helping run a tandem-cycling program for young athletes with vision impairments, he was inspired to get back on the track.

Kieran was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2014 for services to sport and vision-impaired people.

One of four children, he was born in Port Lincoln to a farming family before attending Immanuel College in Novar Gardens in Adelaide. The LCA/NZ mourns with Kieran’s wife Kerry and their three girls Holly, Makala and Janae, his parents Theo and Sylvia, and their extended families and church communities.