 Ade is currently showing off his best moves on BBC1's idents |
As well as carving out a successful career on the basketball court, Ade Adepitan is one of television's rising stars. He is a roving reporter for the BBC's daily children's show X-Change and has also made regular appearances on Grandstand and the Holiday programme.
His slick moves in a wheelchair for BBC1's new high profile idents have also helped make him a well-known face across the country.
But one of his greatest achievements remains in wheelchair basketball, representing Great Britain at the Sydney Paralympics.
Having survived polio as a youngster, Ade got into the sport when he was 13 after watching the national team in action at the Stoke Mandeville Games.
 | ADEPITAN FACTS Born: 27/03/1973 Club: Milton Keynes Aces Honours: Represented Britain at 2000 Paralympics
Runners-up in 2002 Worlds
Joint captain 2000-03 |
Playing for the Milton Keynes Aces, he soon wanted to get involved in the national set-up. After missing out on the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, Ade finally got his international call-up two years later when he was selected for the European Championships in Holland.
This coincided with his first big break in television, presenting Tiger Tiger for Channel Five, who were impressed by a video diary Ade had made in Spain and in London.
In 2000, he moved to the BBC to join the X-Change crew and fulfilled one of his greatest dreams - going to the Games in Sydney.
But it was a heart-wrenching experience Down Under as the British men's team lost to Canada in the semi-finals and then missed out on bronze against the USA who scored with a miracle shot in the dying seconds.
Their plucky performance still earned them plenty of praise back home and the British Wheelchair Sports Foundation Team of the Year Award.
Using his sporting expertise, Ade reported from the European Championships in Holland for BBC2's Grandstand in both 2002 and 2003.
He also recently hosted his own documentary for BBC Radio Five Live, A Pair of Trainers, which saw him follow the personal progress of two unlikely fitness candidates.
On the basketball court, Ade captained Britain into the runners-up spot at the World Championships in 2002.
Although he stepped down as skipper last year, Ade is training hard to make the squad for Athens this summer.
MMIX
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