Rob Pike, head coach of the Australian women's 3x3 wheelchair basketball team, led his squad to a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July 2026. This achievement came 27 years after a car crash that killed three of his friends and severed both his legs.
The crash and its aftermath
On 17 August 1999, in Baldivis, Western Australia, Pike, then 17, was a passenger in a car driven by his friend Christian Iezzi-Carrello. Also in the car were friends Adam Stribling and Daniel McCoy. The vehicle aquaplaned in heavy rain, spun out of control, hit a tree, and split in half. Iezzi-Carrello and Stribling were flung from the car and died on impact. McCoy, sitting next to Pike, was killed instantly.
Pike was trapped in the wreckage, his legs severed by the car's back panel, which acted as a tourniquet and saved his life. He spent two weeks on life support at Fremantle Hospital. When he woke, he had no memory of the accident. His father told him his friends had died. Pike later discovered his legs had been amputated by the crash, not by surgery.
Survivor's guilt and recovery
Pike experienced severe survivor's guilt, especially because he had suggested picking up McCoy, who was initially off sick that day. He planned to end his life, but a visit from McCoy's parents changed his mind. McCoy's father told him, "Bob, we are so happy that you are alive," which gave him a reason to live.
He learned to use prosthetic legs before his stumps had fully healed, determined to walk into his school celebration. He returned to cricket and later took up wheelchair basketball at his father's urging. "I was very ignorant. I'm like: a bunch of disabled people playing basketball?" he said. But he was "blown away" by the athleticism and physicality.
Coaching career and current life
Pike played professionally for Perth Wheelcats and in Spain, then became head coach of the Wombats, Australia's women's 3x3 wheelchair basketball team. At the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the team won bronze.
Now 44, Pike is married with two children and serves on the board of the Paraplegic Benefit Fund of Australia. He advocates for road safety, speaking to young people about his experience. "I can share it with 16-, 17-year-old students and hopefully inspire them to be better drivers, but also better people," he said.
Pike also faced a heart attack three months before the Games, caused by hereditary high cholesterol. He was hospitalised for 12 days. Despite setbacks, including panic attacks during Covid, he says he has "come through the other side" and is in a "really positive place."
For support in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available at 988. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14.
