Paralympics Australia recognises the achievements of Paralympic athletes, coaches and administrators through several awards. These awards generally relate to performances at the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and are not necessarily awarded annually.
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
1994 | Louise Sauvage (Athletics) |
1995 | Priya Cooper (Swimming) |
1996 | Louise Sauvage (Athletics) |
1997 | Louise Sauvage (Athletics) |
1998 | Louise Sauvage (Athletics) |
2000 | Siobhan Paton (Swimming) |
2002 | Michael Milton (Alpine skiing) |
2004 | Tim Sullivan (Athletics) |
2008 | Matthew Cowdrey (Swimming) |
2010 | Cameron Rahles-Rahbula (Alpine skiing) |
2012 | Jacqueline Freney (Swimming) |
2016 | Dylan Alcott (Wheelchair tennis) [1] |
2020 | Madison de Rozario (Athletics) |
2022 | Ben Tudhope (Snowboarding) [2] |
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
2008 | Matthew Cowdrey (Swimming) [4] |
2010 | Cameron Rahles-Rahbula (Alpine skiing) [5] |
2012 | Evan O'Hanlon (Athletics) [3] |
2016 | Dylan Alcott (Wheelchair tennis) [6] |
2020 | Curtis McGrath (Canoeing) [2] |
2022 | Ben Tudhope (Snowboarding) [2] |
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
2008 | Lisa McIntosh (Athletics) [4] |
2010 | Jessica Gallagher (Alpine skiing) [5] |
2012 | Jacqueline Freney (Swimming) [3] |
2016 | Maddison Elliott (Swimming) [6] |
2020 | Madison de Rozario (Athletics) [2] |
2022 | Melissa Perrine (Alpine skiing) [2] |
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
2008 | Peter Leek (Swimming) [4] |
2012 | Maddison Elliott (Swimming) Rheed McCracken (Athletics) [3] |
2016 | James Turner (Athletics) [6] |
2020 | William Martin (Swimming) [2] |
2022 | Josh Hanlon (Alpine skiing) [2] |
Award changed from Junior to Rookie Athlete of the Year in 2016.
Year | Coach |
---|---|
2008 | Iryna Dvoskina (Athletics) [4] |
2010 | Steve Graham (Alpine skiing) [5] |
2012 | Peter Day (Cycling) [3] |
2016 | Iryna Dvoskina (Athletics) [6] |
2020 | Louise Sauvage (Athletics) [2] |
2022 | Par Sundqvist (Snowboarding) [2] |
Year | Team |
---|---|
2008 | Men's Wheelchair Basketball (Rollers) [4] |
2012 | Wheelchair Rugby Team (Steelers) Sailing SKUD18 Crew Daniel Fitzgibbon & Liesl Tesch [3] |
2016 | Australian Paralympic Sailing Team [6] Matthew Bugg (Single person 2.4mR), Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (Two person Skud 18), Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden, Jonathan Harris (Three person Sonar) |
2020 | Women’s Table Tennis (Class 9-10) Team Melissa Tapper, Qian Yang, Lina Lei [2] |
Named after indigenous wheelchair basketballer Kevin Coombs. The Medal is awarded to the athlete that embodies the 'spirit of the Games'. [6]
Year | Team |
---|---|
2016 | Liesl Tesch (Sailing) |
2020 | Stuart Jones (Cyclist) [2] |
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
2008 | Kurt Fearnley (Athletics) [4] |
2010 | Toby Kane (Alpine skiing) [5] |
2012 | Libby Kosmala (Shooting) Kieran Modra (Cycling) [3] |
2016 | Kate McLoughlin (2016 Chef de Mission) [6] |
2020 | Daniela Di Toro [2] |
Year | Athlete |
---|---|
2010 | Individuals - David Baker, Pamela Baker, Steve Mason and Belinda Green Corporate - 360HR |
2012 | Matthew Cowdrey (Swimming) [3] |
It was established in 2011 to recognise individuals that have made a significant contribution to Australia's paralympic achievements and to enhance the profile of Paralympians in the Australian community. [7]
Year | Name |
---|---|
2011 | Louise Sauvage(Athlete) |
2011 | Frank Ponta (Athlete) |
2011 | Sir George Bedbrook (Administrator) |
2016 | Kevin Coombs (Athlete) [6] |
2016 | Tracey Freeman (Athlete) [6] |
2016 | David Hall (Athlete) [6] |
2016 | Daphne Hilton (Athlete) [6] |
2016 | Ron Finneran (Administrator) [6] |
2016 | Adrienne Smith (Administrator) [6] |
2022 | Libby Kosmala (Athlete) [2] |
2022 | Priya Cooper (Athlete) [2] |
2022 | Michael Milton (Athlete) [2] |
2022 | Matthew Cowdrey (Athlete) [2] |
2022 | Kurt Fearnley (Athlete) [2] |
This award recognises significant long term contribution to Paralympic sport in Australia and is the highest honour for a non-athlete. [3] [8]
Year | Name |
---|---|
2001 | Marie Little |
2002 | Ron Finneran |
2004 | Adrienne Smith |
2005 | Nick Dean |
2008 | Scott Goodman |
2010 | Paul Bird |
2010 | Ken Brown |
2010 | John Coates |
2010 | Doug Denby |
2010 | Rod Kemp |
2015 | Nick Dean |
2022 | John Wylie [2] |
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, finishing his Paralympic Games career with thirteen medals. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach.
Michael John Milton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic skier, Paralympic cyclist and paratriathlete with one leg. With 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals he is the most successful Australian Paralympic athlete in the Winter Games.
Timothy ("Tim") Francis Sullivan, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete.
Lauren Woolstencroft is a Canadian alpine skier and electrical engineer. Born missing her left arm below the elbow as well as both legs below the knees, she began skiing at the age of 4 and began competitive skiing at the age of 14. She is an eight-time gold medal winner at the Paralympics. In 1998, she was nicknamed "Pudding" by her teammates, due to her sweet tooth. Her life and achievements were celebrated in the Toyota ad "Good Odds" that aired just after kickoff during Super Bowl LII in February 2018.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.
Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian teams that participate at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes. Australian competitors won 101 medals to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table. Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird. The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities. The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.
The 1998 Winter Paralympics were held in Nagano, Japan from 5–14 March 1998. At the Games, Australia was represented by four male alpine skiers. Australia tied for 16th place with Denmark, out of 21 Nations on the overall medal tally. James Patterson, an LW9 standing skier, won Australia's two medals - one gold and one bronze.
David Robert Hall, OAM is an Australian former professional wheelchair tennis player. With eight US Open singles titles, two Masters singles titles, and a Paralympic gold medal in singles, he has been referred to as Australia's greatest ever wheelchair tennis player.
James Lawrence Paterson, is an Australian Paralympic skier who has cerebral palsy.
Amy Louise Winters, OAM is an arm amputee Australian Paralympic athlete. She won seven medals at three Paralympic Games, including five gold medals.
Timothy "Tim" Shaun Matthews, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in the Victorian town of Orbost with exomphalos, a condition in which the abdomen develops outside the body; in his case, the condition affected other organs, including his liver. he was also born without a left arm and with some webbed fingers. He spent much of his early life at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital because the membrane protecting his exposed organs ruptured when he was two days old.
Hamish Anderson MacDonald, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Melbourne and lives in Canberra. He has cerebral palsy. His achievements and advocacy have made him one of Australia's most respected Paralympians.
Gerard "Gerry" Benjamin Hewson, OAM is an Australian former Paralympic wheelchair basketballer. He has coached wheelchair basketball on the national and international level in Australia. Gerry is now studying horticulture at TAFE and is the producer of Gerard Benjamin honey from Cedar Brush Creek.
Ronald James Finneran OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete and sports administrator, from Merimbula, New South Wales.
Adrienne Mary Elise Smith OAM was a leading Australian sport administrator. She played a significant role in the establishment of the Australian Paralympic Federation in 1990.
Disabled Wintersport Australia (DWA) was established in 1978 as the Australian Disabled Skiers Federation. Its current mission is "to promote and foster the advancement of participation by people with a disability in wintersport both in Australia and overseas". DWA is a member of the Australian Paralympic Committee. DWA plays a major role in the development of Australian athletes that compete at the Winter Paralympics.
Marie Therese Little OAM was a leading Australian sport administrator particularly in the area of disability sport. She was President of the Australian Paralympic Federation and AUSRAPID.
Ben Tudhope is an Australian Paralympian who has competed in para-snowboard cross at three Winter Paralympics 2014 to 2022. His selection at the age of 14 at the 2014 Winter Paralympics meant that he became Australia's youngest Winter Paralympian, replacing Michael Milton. He was the youngest competitor at the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games from any country. He also competed at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. At the 2022 Winter Paralympics, he won the bronze medal in the Men's Snowboard Cross SB-LL2.