Australia has been represented in weightlifting / powerlifting at every Games between 1964 and 2012 and, in that time, won a medal at every Games except 1984 and 2012. [1] Paralympic powerlifting has been competed at every Summer Paralympics since 1984. Weightlifting had been on the Paralympic program since 1964, however after the 1992 Games the International Paralympic Committee made the decision drop weightlifting and hold powerlifting events only.
The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, Germany, its mission is to "enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world". Furthermore, the IPC wants to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.
Notable Australian athletes include:
Victor "Vic" Allen Renalson, MBE was an Australian athlete, weightlifter, and track and field coach. He won ten medals at four Paralympics from 1964 to 1976, and worked as a track and field coach for both Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Brian Frederick McNicholl, OAM is a New Zealand-born Australian Paralympic powerlifter, weightlifter, wheelchair basketballer, and athlete, who won five medals at six Paralympic games from 1976 to 1996.
Darren Gardiner is an Australian Paralympic powerlifter. He has won two Paralympic silver medals in the Men's Over 100 kg powerlifting event. He did not medal at the 2012 Games.
Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
1964 Tokyo | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
1968 Tel Aviv | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
1972 Heidelberg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
1976 Toronto | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
1980 Arnhem | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
1984 Stoke Mandeville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1988 Seoul | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
1992 Barcelona | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
1996 Atlanta | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2000 Sydney* | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2004 Athens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2008 Beijing | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2012 London | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals (13 games) | 4 | 8 | 5 | 17 |
Australian representatives in weightlifting and powerlifting.
Australia represented by:
Men – Michael Dow, Gary Hooper, Vic Renalson [1]
Australia won three silver medals.
Michael Dow is an Australian Paralympic swimmer and weightlifter who won two gold, two silver and a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Paralympics. He was one of only two Victorian athletes selected to compete at these games.
Gary Leslie Hooper, MBE is an Australian Paralympic competitor. He won seven medals at three Paralympics from 1960 to 1968.
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Michael Dow | Men's Featherweight |
![]() | Gary Hooper | Men's Lightweight |
![]() | Vic Renalson | Men's Heavyweight |
Australia represented by:
Men – Gary Hooper, Vic Renalson [1]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Vic Renalson | Men's Heavyweight |
Australia represented by:
Men – Dennis Kay, Terry Mason, Vic Renalson [1]
Terry Mason is an Australian Paralympic athlete and weightlifter, who won two bronze medals at two Paralympics.
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Vic Renalson | Men's heavyweight |
Australia represented by:
Men – Terry Mason, Vic Renalson [1]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Vic Renalson [1] | Men's middleweight |
![]() | Terry Mason [1] | Men's light featherweight |
Australia represented by:
Men – Barry Kalms, Brian McNicholl, John Sheil [1]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Barry Kalms [1] | Men's lightweight −65 kg amputee |
![]() | Brian McNicholl [1] | Men's middleweight −75 kg paraplegic |
Australia represented by:
Men – Brian McNicholl [1]
Australia did not win any medals. Brian McNicholl came 4th in his event. [1] [5]
Australia represented in powerlifting by:
Men – Michael Farrell, Matthew Pobje [1]
Australia represented in weightlifting by:
Men – Ray Epstein, Brian McNicholl, Arnie Money, Paul O'Brien, Col Richards [1]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Matthew Pobje | Men's 100 kg |
![]() | Michael Farrell | Men's 100 kg |
![]() | Brian McNicholl | Men's 85 kg |
Australia represented by:
Men – Ray Epstein, Steve Green, Brian McNicholl [1] [6]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Brian McNicholl | Men's 90 kg |
Australia represented in powerlifting by:
Men – Willem Bos, Michael Farrell, Brian McNicholl, Richard Nicholson
Coach – Blagoi Blagoev [1] [7]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Brian McNicholl | Men's Up To 90 kg |
Australia represented in powerlifting by:
Men – Shaun Cavuoto, Darren Gardiner, Steve Green, Paul Hyde, Richard Nicholson, Kahi Puru, Wayne Sharpe
Women – Deahnne McIntyre, Julie Russell, Vicky Machen, Kim Neuenkirchen, Melissa Trafela, Sue Twelftree
Coaches – Blagoi Blagoev (Head), Ray Epstein
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Richard Nicholson [1] [8] [9] | Men's 60 kg |
Australia represented in powerlifting:
Men – Darren Gardiner, Steve Green, Wayne Sharpe
Women – Deahnne McIntyre
Coaches – Martin Leach (Coach), Michael Farrell [1] [10]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Men's +100 kg |
Gardiner originally finished third but was awarded the silver medal after Habibollah Mousavi gold medallist in +100 kg was disqualified after a positive doping test.
Representing Australia in powerlifting:
Men – Darren Gardiner, Abebe Fekadu
Women – Deahnne McIntyre
Coaches – Ray Epstein (Head Coach), Bill Nancarrow [1] [12]
Medal | Name | Event |
---|---|---|
![]() | Darren Gardiner | Men's 100 +kg |
Selected team of 2 athletes.
Men – Darren Gardiner and Abebe Fekadu.
Coaches – Ray Epstein (Head)
Darren Gardiner, a previous Games medallist competed at his fourth Games and Fekadu, a refugee from Ethiopia at his second Games. Australia did not win any medals.
No athletes selected.
Australia was the host nation for the 2000 Summer Paralympics which was held in Sydney. Australia competed in the games between the 18 and 29 October. The team consisted of 285 athletes in 18 sports with 148 officials. It was the country's largest ever Paralympic delegation to a Games. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games since its inception. Australia finished at the top of the medal tally with 63 gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze medals to total 149 medals for the games. This was the first time and the only time to date that Australia has finished on top of either an Olympic or Paralympic medal tally. The most successful sports were athletics, cycling, equestrian, swimming and wheelchair tennis.
The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Australia competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Games significantly expanded in 1968 when compared to previous years, as did the Australian team and the events included in the Games. Mexico City were originally to host the 1968 Paralympics, however, they were moved to Tel Aviv in Israel.
Australia sent a team to compete at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, West Germany. 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.
Australia competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London, United Kingdom from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The London Games were the biggest Games with 164 nations participating, 19 more than in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games and hosted the 2000 Sydney Games. As such, the 2000 Sydney Games, regarded as one of the more successful Games, became a point-of-reference and an inspiration in the development of the 2012 London Games.
The 1996 Summer Paralympics were held in the United States city of Atlanta. Australia competed in 13 of the 17 sports, winning medals in 10 of those sports. At the 1996 Summer Paralympics, Australia had the second highest medal tally of any country competing. It won 42 gold, 37 silver and 27 bronze medals. It surpassed the 24 gold medals that Australia won at the 1992 Paralympics. The sports of athletics, swimming and cycling provided Australia with the majority of its medals.
Australia has participated in every Summer Paralympic Games since the inception of the Paralympics in the year 1960. The 1976 Paralympic Games in Toronto was Australia's fifth Paralympic Games. Australia competed in 10 out of the 13 sports and were able to win medals in six of these sports. There were 44 athletes representing Australia at the Games with a number of these athletes participating in multiple sports. Of the 44 athletes, 34 were males and 10 were females. As a team, Australia won 41 medals, 16 of which were gold. This placed it just outside the top 10 in 11th position at the end of the Games. The Australian team won more gold medals at the 1976 Paralympic Games than at any of the previous four Paralympic Games. 26 athletes finished on the podium in their respective events. This represents more than half the number of athletes that Australia sent to Toronto. Six world records were broken by Australian athletes on their way to winning their respective events.
Also known as the 13th Stoke Mandeville Games, the 1964 Summer Paralympics was the 2nd Paralympic Games. Hosted in Tokyo, the games ran from 8 to 12 November. Australia won a total of 30 medals and finished fourth on the medal tally behind Italy (3rd), Great Britain (2nd) and the United States (1st). Australia competed in 6 of the 9 sports at the Games, winning medals in each of those sports, but was most successful in the pool, winning a majority of their medals in swimming events.
Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands. It was the 6th Summer Paralympic Games in which Australia had competed. These Games were the biggest Paralympics yet, with 1,973 people participating. Of those participants, 57 were Australian. The team was made up of 45 men and 12 women, and was Australia's largest team to compete at any Paralympic Games so far.
Australia competed at the 1984 Summer Paralympics that were held in two locations - Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom and in the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, United States of America. Four months before the beginning of the 1984 summer Paralympics, the University of Illinois terminating their contract to hold the Games. Australia won 154 medals - 49 gold, 54 silver and 51 bronze medals. Australia competed in 9 sports and won medals in 6 sports. Australia finished 8th on the gold medal table and 7th on the total medal table.
Australia competed at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona for physically and vision-impaired athletes. Immediately after the Barcelona Games, the city of Madrid held events for athletes with an intellectual disability. The Madrid results are not included in International Paralympic Committee Historical Results Database. Australia finished 7th in the total medal count winning 76 medals. Australia competed in 13 sports and won medals in 3 sports – swimming, athletics and weightlifting. Australia finished first in the medal tally at the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap in Madrid.
Deahnne Mary McIntyre, OAM is an Australian former Paralympic athletics competitor and one of few Australian female powerlifters. She won four medals in the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games in athletics, and competed in powerlifting from 2000 until her retirement from the sport in January 2011.
Julie Elizabeth Russell is an Australian Paralympic athlete, powerlifter and wheelchair basketballer.
Robert Lindon McIntyre nicknamed "Macca", was an Australian Paralympic athlete, wheelchair basketball player and coach.
Ramon (Ray) Gary Epstein, OAM is an Australian Paralympic weightlifter and powerlifting coach. He represented Australia in weightlifting at the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Paralympics and was Head Coach of the Australian Paralympic powerlifting team between 2003 and 2013.
Athletics events have been held at every Paralympic Games. At the end of the Beijing Games, athletics was Australia's most successful medal sport. Since 2001, Athletics Australia has the responsibility of preparing the Australian athletics team for the Paralympic Games..
Abebe Fekadu is an Ethiopian Australian powerlifter. He competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, where he finished tenth. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in powerlifting. He did not medal at the 2012 Games.