Australia at the Paralympics
Australia at the Paralympics | |
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Australian Paralympic Committee | |
Website | www |
Medals Ranked 6th |
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Summer appearances | |
Winter appearances | |
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the Olympic Games and are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The Paralympic Games have been contractually tied to the Olympic Games since 2001, however, they have taken place at the same venues since the 1988 Seoul Summer Games and the 1992 Albertville Winter Games.[1]
In order to compete at the Paralympics, athletes must have an eligible impairment that leads to a permanent activity limitation, and athletes will compete in the classification appropriate to their impairment.[2] These impairments are physical, vision and intellectual impairments.
The
Many of Australia's gold medals have come from
Australia has hosted the Paralympic Games on one occasion in 2000.[6] Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales hosted the Summer Paralympics from 23 to 31 October 2000.[6] There were 3879 participants from 123 countries across 19 sports and 550 events.[6] Australia won the most medals with 149 overall.[7]
Summer Games
Host country (Australia)
Medal table
Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank | Competitors | Officials | Flag Bearer Opening | Flag Bearer Closing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 Rome | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 11 | Kevin Betts | ||
1964 Tokyo | 12 | 11 | 7 | 30 | 4 | 17 | 9 | Not a team member | |
1968 Tel-Aviv | 15 | 16 | 7 | 38 | 4 | 35 | 18 | ||
1972 Heidelberg | 6 | 9 | 10 | 25 | 11 | 37 | Not a team member | ||
1976 Toronto | 16 | 18 | 7 | 41 | 11 | 46 | Not a team member | ||
1980 Arnhem | 12 | 21 | 22 | 55 | 14 | 53 | Not a team member | ||
1984 Stoke Mandeville / New York |
49 | 54 | 51 | 154 | 8 | 108 | Carol Young and Paul Bird (NY)
Non team member (SM) |
||
1988 Seoul | 23 | 34 | 38 | 95 | 10 | 175 | 47 | Paul Croft | Rodney Nugent |
1992 Barcelona and Madrid | 37 | 37 | 34 | 108 | 5 | 134 | Terry Giddy | Priya Cooper | |
1996 Atlanta | 42 | 37 | 27 | 106 | 2 | 161 | Elizabeth Kosmala |
Priya Cooper | |
2000 Sydney | 63 | 39 | 47 | 149 | 1 | 286 | 148 | Brendan Burkett | Neil Fuller |
2004 Athens | 26 | 39 | 36 | 101 | 5 | 152 | Louise Sauvage | Matthew Cowdrey
| |
2008 Beijing | 23 | 29 | 27 | 79 | 5 | 161 | 122 | Russell Short | Matthew Cowdrey
|
2012 London | 32 | 23 | 30 | 85 | 5 | 160 | Greg Smith | Evan O'Hanlon | |
2016 Rio | 22 | 30 | 29 | 81 | 5 | 176 | Brad Ness | Curtis McGrath | |
2020 Tokyo | 21 | 29 | 30 | 80 | 8 | 179 | Daniela di Toro |
Ellie Cole | |
Total | 389 | 422 | 394 | 1205 |
Medals by summer sport 1960–2020
Source:[9]
Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Equestrian | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
Wheelchair basketball | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
Wheelchair rugby | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Dartchery | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Triathlon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Judo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Powerlifting | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Rowing | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Snooker | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Wheelchair fencing | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Boccia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Parataekwondo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Totals (23 entries) | 389 | 422 | 394 | 1205 |
Best results in non-medalling sports:
Summer | |||
---|---|---|---|
Sport | Rank | Athlete | Event & Year |
Badminton | 9th | Grant Manzoney | Men's singles WH2 in 2020 |
Football 5-a-side | Did not participate | ||
Goalball | 4th | Australia men's team | Men's tournament in 1996 |
Volleyball | 8th | Australia men's team | Men's tournament in 2000 |
Winter Games
Since Australia began competing in the Winter Paralympic Games in 1980, it has only sent competitors in Alpine Skiing and hence all medals won at the Winter Paralympics are in Alpine Skiing.[10]
Medal table
Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank | Competitors | Officials | Flag Bearer Opening | Flag Bearer Closing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 Geilo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | |||
1984 Innsbruck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 3 | |||
1988 Innsbruck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 5 | |||
1992 Tignes-Albertville | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 5 | |||
1994 Lillehammer | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 6 | |||
1998 Nagano | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 4 | James Patterson |
||
2002 Salt Lake City | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 6 | Michael Milton | Bart Bunting | |
2006 Turin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 | Michael Milton | Toby Kane | |
2010 Vancouver | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 11 | Toby Kane | Cameron Rahles-Rahbula | |
2014 Sochi | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 7 | Cameron Rahles-Rahbula | Ben Tudhope | |
2018 PyeongChang | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 15 | Joany Badenhorst | Melissa Perrine | |
2022 Beijing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 9 | Melissa Perrine Mitchell Gourley |
Ben Tudhope | |
Total | 12 | 6 | 17 | 35 |
Medals by winter sport 1980–2022
Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Snowboarding | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Totals (2 entries) | 12 | 6 | 17 | 35 |
Summary of Australia's involvement
1960 Summer Paralympics
Athlete, Daphne Hilton (Ceeney) was Australia's first ever swimmer who competed at the Rome 1960 Games.[11] This games were the only Paralympic Games in which Australia did not win a gold medal in athletics.[11]
1964 Summer Paralympics
With the games in Tokyo, Australia was able to send a large contingent of athletes as a result of the shorter than typical journey.[11] Australia placed fourth with a total of 31 overall medals; 12 gold medals, 10 silver medals and 9 bronze medals.
1968 Summer Paralympics
Australia placed fourth again, with 38 overall medals; 15 gold, 16 silver and 7 bronze.[12] Lorraine Dodd was an outstanding athlete at these games, setting three Swimming records for her class, all on the same day.
1972 Summer Paralympics
Australian won 25 medals - 6 gold, 9 silver and 10 bronze medals in six sports. Australia finished 11th on the gold medal table and 9th on the total medal table.[13] Elizabeth "Libby" Kosmala competed in her first Paralympics, and won a bronze medal in swimming in the Women's 3x50 m Medley Relay 2–4 event, and participated in other swimming and athletics events.[14]
1976 Summer Paralympics
The Olympic and Paralympic Games both aim to be apolitical; despite this, at the 1976 Paralympic Games, politics intruded into the games. Apartheid practices in South Africa brought controversy with the country's invitation to and inclusion in the games. Australian athlete, Eric Russell took a stance against politics at the Paralympic Games when he refused his gold medal in the class 3 discus event as a protest. He later accepted the medal from Dr Guttman after a press conference, explaining his position.[12]
For the first time, television coverage of the Paralympics was broadcast daily to more than 600,000 viewers around the world.[11]
1976 Winter Paralympics
This Paralympic Games were the first Winter Paralympic Games. Australia was represented by one athlete, Ron Finneran; however, he was disqualified as his disability did not meet event classifications.[15]
1980 Winter Paralympics
This is the first Winter Paralympics that Australia competed in, but did not medal.[16] Australia had two competitors, Kyrra Grunnsund and Peter Rickards, who participated in Slalom and Middle Distance Alpine Skiing respectively.[17]
1980 Summer Paralympics
It was the 6th Summer Paralympic game in which Australia competed. Australia won 55 medals – 12 gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze medals. Australia competed in 10 sports and won medals in 6 sports. It finished 14th on the gold medal table and 9th on the total medal table.[18]
1984 Winter Paralympics
Australia did not win a medal, but was strongly represented by Rodney Mills in cross-country and Kyrra Grunnsund and Andrew Temple in the alpine events of slalom, giant slalom and downhill.[16]
1984 Summer Paralympics
In 1984, Australia more than doubled its previous highest medal count with a tally of 154 medals. For the first time, four Cerebral Palsy athletes and one "Les Autres" athlete participated in the Games. Each won medals: Robert Walden (swimming) won four gold medals, Terry Biggs (table tennis) won a gold medal, Lyn Coleman (cycling) won silver medal and Malcom Chalmers (swimming) won a gold, silver and two bronze medals.[19]
1988 Winter Paralympics
Australia sent five athletes; however, failed to medal.[4] These athletes were Michael Collins, Kyrra Grunnsund, Evan Hodge, Michael Milton and David Munk, who all competed in both men's downhill, men's giant slalom and men's slalom, except Munk who only competed in the latter two events.[20]
1988 Summer Paralympics
Australia competed in 16 events, achieving 23 gold medals in three sports, Athletics, Swimming and Lawn Bowls.[4] Overall, Australia received 95 medals, 23 gold, 34 silver and 38 bronze. Australian athletes broke eight records during the Games.[4]
1992 Winter Paralympics
Australia's first ever gold medal at an Olympic or Paralympic Winter Games was won by Michael Milton when he won the LW2 Slalom event.[12] There are no accurate results for the Australian Paralympic team performances at Winter Games previous to 1992; however, it is known that no-one medalled for Australia until the 1992 Paralympics.[21]
1992 Summer Paralympics
The ID Australian men's swimming team was totally dominant in Madrid, with Joseph Walker being the undoubted star winning nine gold medals (five individual, four relay) from all events that him competed and setting two world records.[12]
1994 Winter Paralympics
Australia's most successful Winter Paralympic Games remain the 1994 Winter Paralympic Games, when five athletes took the podium on 9 different occasions.[22]
1996 Summer Paralympics
Australia was ranked 2nd in the final medal table with 106 overall medals; 42 gold; 37 silver; 27 bronze. This success has been attributed to the introduction of the Australian Paralympic Committee's Paralympic Preparation Program.[23] Australia's team was half that of the host nation who lead the final medal table.[23]
In the Wheelchair Basketball match, Australia vs Great Britain, Troy Sachs recorded the highest number of individual points scored.[24] Sachs scored 42 points in a single game for Australia at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games, which remains the highest ever individual score by a basketballer at the Paralympic Games. He is also Australia's most awarded basketballer with two gold and one silver medal.[11]
At the Atlanta Summer Paralympics, there was the largest athletics away gold medal haul to date of 19 Gold medals.[11]
1998 Winter Paralympics
Australia collected two medals, one gold and one bronze, from the 1998 Games after sending four competitors.
2000 Summer Paralympics
The 2000 Sydney Summer Paralympic Games are Australia's most successful Paralympic games to date. In the final medal tally, Australia was ranked first with 149 overall medals; 63 gold, 39 silver, and 47 bronze medals.[6][12] Australia was represented by their largest team ever. The success of the team combined with extensive media coverage went a long way to changing public attitudes towards Paralympic athletes and understanding them as elite sportspeople.[11]
Australian values were represented well and truly throughout the Opening and Closing Ceremonies with a distinctly Aboriginal feel at the Opening ceremony and in true Australian traditions, a party atmosphere to the closing ceremony. At the Opening Ceremony, the Paralympic flame was lit by Louise Sauvage, one of Australia's biggest Paralympic athlete.
Sauvage and Tim Sullivan both competed in this games and found outstanding success in their individual events. Sullivan is Australia's most successful athletics athlete at a single Games, winning five gold medals in Sydney 2000.[11]
2002 Winter Paralympics
Australia's best performance at Winter Paralympics winning six gold and one bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Paralympics. Of these medals, four were won by Michael Milton. Milton becoming the first athlete in his class to claim a clean sweep of gold medals across the four alpine disciplines when he won gold in all four of his events – Downhill, slalom, giant slalom, and super-G.[25][26]
2004 Summer Paralympics
At the 2004 Paralympics, Australia was represented by a considerably smaller team than that of the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney; however, ranked second overall medals behind China.[11] The reduced team number was as a result of a strict selection criterion set by the APC and sports meant that only athletes with the potential to win a medal were on the Australian team.[11]
2006 Winter Paralympics
Australia took 10 athletes to compete in 3 sports and acquired a silver and a bronze medal to finish equal 13th on the overall medal table. Michael Milton won a silver medal in his event in his fifth and final Winter Paralympic Games, retiring as Australia's most successful Winter Paralympian ever.[4] Emily Jansen competed, as Australia's first female competitor at a Winter Paralympics, in two of the four alpine events.[27]
2008 Summer Paralympics
Australia ranked fourth overall behind China, Great Britain, and USA in the gold medal table. Australia took its largest team to date, of 14 athletes and their guides, to the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.[30] Despite the large team, Australia finished 16th on the overall medal tally, winning four medals.[30] Australia had their first Australian female to win a medal at the Paralympic Winter Games, when Jessica Gallagher won bronze in the slalom.[30]
2010 Winter Paralympics
2012 Summer Paralympics
London was the best performance by Australia's Paralympic swim team since 1984. Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay swim team achieved Australia's 1000th Summer Paralympic Games medal (Australia's 41st of the Games).
The Australian wheelchair rugby team won its first Paralympic gold medal after claiming silver at the last two major tournaments (Beijing 2008, World Champs 2010).
The youngest competitor in the London Games, 13-year-old & 300 days
2014 Winter Paralympics
Australia came away from these games with two medals, a disappointing result. Australian Paralympic Chief Executive Jason Hellwig said that 'we were absolutely disappointed we didn't get the mission done to win that gold medal', however, he also described it as the most satisfying he had experienced because of the hardship the team had gone through..
The Australian team comprised 177 athletes of which 103 are men and 74 are women.[33] Incredibly 89 athletes (50%) made their Paralympic debut in 2016. The average age of athletes on the Aussie team 2016 is 29.2 years. The average age of the male athletes is 29.1 years and the average age of female athletes is 29.4 years.[33]
In Rio there were an extraordinary eight Australian athletes who had competed in two or more different sports:
Notable achievements at the Games
Team of 12 athletes and three guides represented Australia. In snowboarding Simon Patmore won a gold and bronze medal and in alpine skiing Melissa Perrine won two bronze medals. Australia was ranked 15th on the medal table.
Australia sent its largest away team - 179 athletes to a Summer Paralympics. Australia finished eighth on the gold medal table and sixth on the total medals table. The Games were postponed one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Badminton and taekwondo made their Paralymic debuts. Team of 7 athletes and two guides represented Australia. In snowboarding Ben Tudhope won a bronze medal. Australia was ranked 17th on the medal table.
Leading Australian Summer Paralympians 1960–2020[38]
2016 Summer Paralympics
2018 Winter Paralympics
2020 Summer Paralympics
2022 Winter Paralympics
Interesting facts
Athlete Gold Silver Bronze Total 10 0 0 10 Louise Sauvage 9 4 0 13 Priya Cooper 9 3 4 16 Libby Kosmala 9 3 0 12 Jacqueline Freney 8 0 3 11 Neil Fuller 6 6 3 15 Ellie Cole 6 5 6 17 Heath Francis 6 4 3 13 Tracey Freeman 6 4 0 10 Russell Short 6 2 3 11 Darren Thrupp 6 0 3 9 Siobhan Paton 6 0 0 6 Kingsley Bugarin 5 8 6 19 Totals (14 entries) 105 46 34 185
Leading Australian Winter Paralympic medallists 1976–2014
Athlete Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 1 2 4 Marty Mayberry 0 1 0 1 Cameron Rahles-Rahbula 0 0 2 2 David Munk 0 0 2 2 Jessica Gallagher 0 0 2 2 Toby Kane 0 0 2 2 Totals (9 entries) 11 6 13 30 First Gold medallists
Dual Summer / Winter Paralympic medallists
- Jessica Gallagher - Winter 2010 and 2014 – bronze medals in alpine skiing; Summer 2016 – 1 bronze in cycling.
- Simon Patmore - Summer 2012 - bronze medal in athletics ; Winter 2018 - 1 gold, 1 bronze medal snowboarding.
Dual Summer / Winter Paralympians
As of the 2018 Winter Paralympics, the following Australian athletes have attended both Summer and Winter Games.
- Kyrra Grunnsund – Winter 1980–1992 (skiing) ; Summer 1992 (athletics)[40]
- Anthony Bonaccurso – Winter 1998 (skiing) ; Summer 2004 (tennis)[40]
- Michael Milton – Winter 1988–2006 (skiing) ; Summer 2008 (cycling)
- Dominic Monypenny - Summer 2008 (rowing) ; Winter 2010 (cross-country skiing)
- Jessica Gallagher – Winter 2010–2014 (skiing) ; Summer 2012 (athletics) ; Summer 2016 (cycling)
- Simon Patmore - Summer 2012 (athletics) ; Winter 2018 (snowboard)
- Rae Anderson - Summer 2016 (athletics) ; Winter 2022 (alpine skiing)
Multi-sports Australian Paralympians
- List of multi-sport Australian Paralympians - includes those athletes that have competed in one or more sports at the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games
See also
- Australia at the Summer Paralympics
- Australia at the Winter Paralympics
- Australia at the Olympics
- Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
References
- ^ "Olympic Games | Winter Summer Past and Future Olympics". www.olympic.org. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
- ^ "Classification | Australian Paralympic Committee". www.paralympic.org.au. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
- ^ "Mission & Goals | Australian Paralympic Committee". www.paralympic.org.au. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
- ^ a b c d e f Committee, Alexander Picolin, International Paralympic. "IPC Historical Results Archive - Australia at the Paralympic Games". db.ipc-services.org. Archived from the original on 2019-11-15. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
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- ^ "Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Results". IPC Historical Results Archive.
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- ^ "Australia Winter Paralympic Games History". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Media Guide Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (PDF). Australian Paralympic Committee. 2016. pp. 17, 20, 22–24, 27–30, 37, 59, 94, 119. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61229-412-4.
- ^ "Participants Heidelberg 1972 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee.
- ^ "Elizabeth Kosmala | London 2012 - Official Australian Paralympic Team Website". london2012.paralympic.org.au. Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Ron Finneran interviewed by Mick Fogarty in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history... [nla.obj-219092551] | Digital Collection - National Library of Australia". nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
- ^ a b "Past Games, Winter - Australian Paralympic Committee". 2009-09-12. Archived from the original on 2009-09-12. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Paralympic Results & Historical Records". www.paralympic.org. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
- ^ International Paralympic Committee. "IPC Historical Results Archive - Arnhem 1980 Paralympic Games". db.ipc-services.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-19. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ^ "Australian Results at the 1976 Paralympics". International Paralympic Committee Results Database.
- ^ Committee, Alexander Picolin, International Paralympic. "IPC Historical Results Archive - Web". db.ipc-services.org. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
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- ^ "Jansen first Aussie woman at Paralympics". www.racingandsports.com.au. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ "Australian Paralympic Committee Annual Report 2007-2008" (PDF).
- ^ "2012 Australian Paralympic Committee Media guide : 2012 London [Summer] Paralympic Games" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-18.
- ^ a b c "2014 Australian Paralympic Committee Media guide : 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ Paxinos, Stathi. "Sochi Winter Paralympics end in style". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ "Australian Paralympian Matthew Robinson dies on way home from Spain World Cup". CourierMail. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Rio Paralympic Games 2016: Ultimate guide, fun facts". Retrieved 2016-10-03.
- ^ "Dylan Alcott: Rare Australian record of gold in two sports". The Roar. 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ "Oldest Rio Paralympian ready to bring home gold". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
- ^ a b c "That's a wrap: Australia at the Rio Paralympics". The Roar. 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
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