| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | August 23, 2000 |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Australia |
| Sport | Athletics |
Samuel "Sam" Rizzo (born 3 August 2000) is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He has been selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. [1]
Rizzo was born 3 August 2000 with spina bifa. In 2024, he works as a fabricator and lives in Buninyong, Victoria. [2]
He is classified as a T54 wheelchair racer. After meeting Australian Paralympic gold medallist Richard Colman at the age of eight and watching him win gold at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, the idea of competing at the Paralympics became a dream. He started wheelchair at the age of twelve in 2012 [3] .
At his first international competition - the 2017 World Para Junior Championships in Switzerland, he won three bronze medals - 100 m, 800 m and 1500 m T54 events. Rizzo finished sixth in Men's 1500 m T54 at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast. [4] In 2023, Rizzo won the Men's Open event at the Oz Day 10K Wheelchair Road Race.
Rizzo competed in three events at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, Paris - he made two finals, finishing ninth in the Men's 1500 m T54 and tenth in the Men's 5000 m T54. [5] In March 2024, at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix, he recorded a Paralympics Games A qualifier. He broke Kurt Fearnley's 1500 m T54 Australian record by four seconds set in 2012, with the time 2:50.84. [1] [6]
After breaking Furnley's record, Rizzo stated " “I want to help the next group of kids coming through in the same way that Richard Colman and Kurt Fearnley helped me, because if I wasn’t doing this sport, I’m sure my life would look completely different. f I could have half the name of Kurt Fearnley or Richard Colman, and their legacies – I would be a pretty happy man! One step at a time though.” [6] In the lead up to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Rizzo competed in three events - 800 m, 1500 m and 5000 m T54 at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, Kobe, Japan. [7]
Rizzo's selection at the 2024 Paris Paralympics led becoming him Ballarat's first Paralympics wheelchair racer since Greg Smith.
He is coached by Richard Colman. In 2024, he is a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship athlete. [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.
Eliza Stankovic-Mowle is an Australian wheelchair racer, who competed at Paralympic and Olympic Games. She survived meningococcal disease and plays a major role in improving the Australian community's awareness of the disease.
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Christie Dawes is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete. She has won three medals in athletics at seven Paralympics from 1996 to 2021.
Richard Andrew Colman is an Australian Paralympic athlete, competing mainly in category T53 sprint events. He was born with spina bifida. He represented Australia at the four Paralympics - 2004 to 2016.
Amanda McGrory is an American wheelchair athlete.
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Annabelle Colman is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor with an intellectual disability. She has been selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.