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Official cheer squad of the Australian Paralympic Team John Maclean CONTENTS

05 Message From Our Chief Executive Officer

06 : The Great Privilege Sauvage Kept Secret

10 Greg Hartung: Out Of The Pigeon Hole And Into The Mainstream

12 Fast Facts

14 Brendan Burkett: We Felt Like We Could Take On The World

16 Paul Bird: How A One Team Approach Transformed Our Sporting Psyche

18 Athlete Honour Roll: 2000 Australian Paralympic Team

22 Neil Fuller: The Dream Run Of A Paralympic Champion

24 Siobhan Paton: It’s Been A Rocky Road, But Paton Feels Proud Once Again

26 Road To 2000

28 Lois Appleby: The Moment That Made The CEO Weep

30 : The Sydney Paralympics Changed My World

34 : A Remarkable Legacy In Which Sydney Shines Brightest

36 Danni Di Toro: How A Brutal Sydney Experience Re-Shaped Athlete Welfare

40 Tim Matthews: Golden Day Brings Back Memories Two Decades On Join now at aussquad.org.au 42 Australian Medallists Honour Roll 46 Brendan Flynn: Mayhem And Magic Of A Frantic Home Stretch

48 : How Sydney 2000 Prepared Tesch For Life In Politics

October 2020 Message From The CEO 5 A Message From Our Chief Executive Officer

Welcome to this very special edition of The There has been no turning back Australian Paralympian magazine, which and, in fact, our movement has celebrates the ‘best ever’ in only accelerated. Sydney 20 years ago. We wholeheartedly believe While COVID-19 has disrupted our efforts to the Paralympic movement is stage a public event and Australian Paralympic uniquely placed to be a major Team reunion to mark the occasion, it is our hope influencer for positive social that this magazine in some way still captures change, and to be able to do the magnificent achievements from the Sydney that, we humbly recognise and Paralympic Games that set the standard for all celebrate the incredible achievements future Games to follow. from Sydney 2000 and those who paved the way. Sydney 2000 positively changed the course of the Paralympic movement forever. It has been wonderful to relive so many memories DONATE NOW while compiling this magazine. I would like to A record number of spectators – 1.16million - take this opportunity to extend my most sincere attended the Games and for many, it was the first thanks to all of our Sydney 2000 Team members – time they had seen Paralympic sport. athletes and officials - and Games administrators who were interviewed and particularly for Our nation showed the world how Paralympic sharing your experiences with us. I also want athletes and Paralympic sport should be to acknowledge my colleagues at PA and the recognised, and that legacy continues to be felt contributors to the Australian Paralympic History today. Project, led by Tony Naar. Without their research and story-telling, this publication would not have Having broken through in Sydney, Paralympic sport been possible. is now an integral and permanent part of how nations define their sporting status. I really do hope you enjoy reading this magazine as much as we did producing it. It was also the Games in which became the world’s leading Paralympic nation. The The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games certainly was Australian Paralympic Team finished on top of the an achievement and it is a 20th anniversary worthy medal tally for the first time by winning 149 medals of celebration. - 63 gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze. Sincerely, The performances of our Para-athletes were spectacular and, with their help, we managed an extraordinary transformation in public support and Lynne Anderson in the approach and recognition of our political Chief Executive Officer leadership toward Paralympic sport and, more generally, toward people with a disability.

Progressively, national sport federations and the commercial sector became empowered to support SHARE YOUR MEMORIES athletes with a disability at unprecedented levels. 6 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Great Privilege Sauvage Kept Secret 7 The Great Privilege Sauvage Kept Secret BY DAVID SYGALL

ome time around blind swimmer Tracey Cross taking the athletes’ oath and equestrian referee Mary Longden taking the officials’ oath, Louise Sauvage told her nearby teammates she was off to the loo. S Hardly a soul among the near-100,000-strong crowd knew where she was really going. The Para-athletics superstar had been announced as one of the last six torchbearers for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Paralympics that memorable night 20 years ago. But not even those closest to her knew she’d also been bestowed an even greater privilege.

“Being one of the final torchbearers was a massive honour in itself,” Sauvage said.

“But, when I was told I was going to be lighting the Cauldron, I don’t know, it was just beyond belief really. I was sworn to secrecy, couldn’t tell anyone, so it was a big surprise even for my family. I got to march out with the team, then I ducked off - going to the bathroom, of course - just nearing when the torch was going to be lit.”

The official opening of the 11th Summer Paralympics, featuring 3,843 athletes representing 123 delegations, heralded the start of 11 days of competition which were to change the face of and attitudes towards people with a disability nationwide and beyond. However, for Sauvage, the Games were part celebration and part expectation.

“For me, it was a very stressful time,” she said. 8 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Great Privilege Sauvage Kept Secret 9

“I was the favourite for all of my the Paralympics were not just the cool,” she said. “It was actually events and the first final I had I event after the Olympics, but that quite deafening with all of them didn’t win, so a lot of people were they were going to be something screaming!” stressing out. There was a lot of in their own right and would have pressure on me but, at the same their own presence. Sauvage continued to the 2004 time, it was a fantastic event. To Paralympics, where she have my family and friends there carried the Australian flag for for the first time to see what I “IT WAS the Opening Ceremony and won really did and what my sport was another two silver medals. In total, all about was very special. It was a A BIG she competed at four Paralympics once in a lifetime event to have at and won nine gold medals and home.” four silver medals. She won 11 gold SURPRISE, medals at World Para-athletics Apart from Sauvage’s Championships and claimed performances - she won gold EVEN victory in marathons in Boston, Los medals in the 5,000 metres Angeles, Honolulu, Berlin and in and 1500 metres T54, and a silver FOR MY Japan. medal in the 800 metres T54 - the thing that sticks in the 46-year- FAMILY” Recognition for Sauvage’s old’s mind about the Sydney outstanding feats included an Games was the impact it had on “I didn’t think much of it back Order of Australia, the Australian the wider Paralympic movement. when Australia was announced Paralympian of the Year in in 1996 had been deflating as hosting the Games seven years 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998 and and there was ground to make earlier. But, definitely having seen the inaugural Laureus World up. The Sydney Games did it what went on in Atlanta in 1996, Sportsperson of the Year with a spectacularly. knowing Sydney was going to host Disability in 2000. She was inducted next, I was so enthused and excited into the Sport Australia Hall of “There was such a vast difference that we could do a great job and I Fame in 2007, the Australian between Sydney and Atlanta,” was very determined that we were in 2011 Sauvage said. going to have the best Paralympics and named a Sport Australia Hall ever. I think the people’s reaction to of Fame Legend in 2019. “More than anything, it brought the Games was great. They were so Paralympics to the forefront and Amid all her achievements, the amazed it was staged so well and it’s really gone on from those Sydney Paralympics will always received so well.” Games. Sydney really set the hold a special place. standard and I was very proud that Sauvage’s recollections are of a “I think the Paralympic movement we were able to do that. Games that brilliantly showcased has really carried forward since the abilities of athletes with an “The way it was embraced within then,” she said. impairment. She remembers big the country, the way we were crowds and a positive atmosphere, perceived by Australians and the “We’ve now got commercial including the palpable enthusiasm crowds that came to see us… The television covering the Paralympics, of thousands of schoolchildren. media really took hold of it and it something that was unheard of back in the day. The presence we was such a huge event. “They came out in their droves had and being able to maintain for the morning sessions and, if “The education they did prior to the that momentum has been you happened to be in a final in Games, between the schoolchildren fantastic. Having the Games here the morning and the anthem was and the general public, they did signalled a big change in the way played, all the schoolkids would such a fantastic job to make sure athletes with a disability are seen.” sing with you, which was quite 10 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Out Of The Pigeonhole And Into The Maintstream 11

It was much more than success on the medal Committee, later to be renamed the Oceania tally that made Sydney 2000 so momentous in Paralympic Committee,” Hartung said. Out Of The the history of Australia’s Paralympic movement, according to one of its most influential figures. “But, of course, the job is never done; it is a race without a finish line. Continuing vigilance Greg Hartung was President of Paralympics is required to ensure that the principles of Pigeonhole And Into Australia from 1997 until 2013 and Vice-President equity and fairness are made rock solid, and of the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee. extended to areas around the world where they do not exist or are under threat. Going forward For more than 1.16 million spectators who with confidence, the Paralympic movement is The Maintstream attended the Games from October 18 to 29, it uniquely placed to be a major influencer for was the first time many had seen Paralympic good. BY TIM MANNION sport. “The performance in Sydney justified “The Sydney Paralympic Games changed ’s ground-breaking attitudes and mindsets of Australians and people preparation of the Australian Team through the worldwide towards athletes with a disability,” Paralympic Preparation Program,” Hartung said. Hartung said. “The performances of the athletes were “Until that in time, Paralympians were not spectacular, and, with their help, we managed always recognised as equal to their Olympic an extraordinary transformation in public Daniel Bell counterparts. It became obvious that that attitude and in the approach and recognition mindset changed during Sydney 2000. of our political leadership toward Paralympic sport and, more generally, toward people with a “Australia showed the world how Paralympic disability. athletes and Paralympic sport should be acknowledged and the positive impact of the “This has stayed with us as a permanent legacy. Sydney Games continues to be felt today.” Paralympic sport was seen as serious sport and was lifted out of its welfare pigeonhole and into The Sydney Games set records in almost the mainstream. all areas including athlete and delegation attendance, ticket sales, broadcast rights, media “Progressively, national sport federations were coverage and merchandise sales.” encouraged to support athletes with a disability in the same manner as Olympic athletes. There It was also the Games in which Australia became is no turning back. the world’s leading Paralympic nation. The Australian Team finished on top of the medal Twenty years on, Hartung believes the Sydney tally for the first time by winning 149 medals - 63 Paralympics continues to be seen as the gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze. benchmark for staging the Games.

It was a stunning achievement from the “The Paralympic movement continues to Australian Team, according to Hartung, who evolve as one of the world’s great humanitarian also served on the Governing Board of the movements and Sydney can be proud of the International Paralympic Committee between contribution it made.” 2001 and 2013, including a four-year term as Vice-President (2009-13). “From the volunteers, to the many supporters in attendance, and the countless people who “It was a privilege for me to play a part in lifting played a role in helping to stage the Games, the status and profile of Paralympic sport Australia set the standard for staging a and to use the Sydney Games as the catalyst successful Paralympic Games which all future to establish the South Pacific Paralympic host cities will be measured by.” Sarnya Parker & Tania Modra 12 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Fast Facts 13 Sydney 2000 Fast Facts

General Games

over 3,852 340,000 300 school children attended million (Largest ever school excursion in Australia) 920 athletes torchbearers Television 976 2,876 Viewers

Australia at the Sydney 2000 Games s 278 athletes SIOBHAN PATON LISA LLORENS emony TIMOTHY SULLIVAN erformer 1st NEIL FULLER LISA MCINTOSH 63 39 47 On the medal tally Opening Cer Neil Fuller (athletics)

op P Closing Ceremony (First and only time in history) endan Burkett () T 94 184 Br Medal Tally Tickets Cost This included Australia’s biggest ever group travel operation, with about 360,000 people travelling

as part of an organised group (e.g. school) $25.1 million 35 15 16 2 2 1 16 Revenue gener $186.8m ated in ticket sales

11 14 15 21 Expenditure 1.16 Million $155.6m 10 3 8 1 1 1 2 People attended 14 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Australian Paralympian 15 We Felt Like We Could Take On The World BY TIM MANNION

As flag bearer, he led the Australian Team into Australian flag at a home Games and I felt the Sydney Games and this week he will reflect extremely patriotic and proud of the fantastic on the 20th anniversary of what he believes is Games our country staged. But, at the same still the greatest Paralympics ever. time, it was heartbreaking to not defend my title in front of all my family and friends.” For Brendan Burkett, the Sydney Games was the perfect way to cap off a stellar career Affectionately known as ‘Beaver’, Burkett in the pool that spanned four Paralympic maintains a close connection to the Australian campaigns and included one gold, three silver Paralympic movement. In addition to being a and one bronze medal. Professor of Sport Science at the University of the Sunshine Coast, he is current Head Coach Burkett’s path to Sydney was not always so of the Australian Paralympic Swim Team. certain. After several years of doubt over whether he had peaked, the boy from central His influence is still substantial. Earlier this pushed his body over the line to year, Burkett helped deliver an inspirational break the world record for the 50 metres rallying call to 2020 Australian Paralympic freestyle at the 1999 European Championships. Team after the Tokyo Games was postponed for 12 months. “And after that I remember thinking ‘the old bugger’s still got it’,” Burkett said. A poem crafted by Burkett in 1999 is a celebration of what is means to be an “My father had passed away earlier that year Australian, to wear the green and gold, and to and that race was my turning point. After years represent the Australian Paralympic Team. It’s of wondering whether I had peaked, it gave me about loyalty, pride, teamwork and above all the confidence I needed to get me to the home else, doing your best when times are tough. Games in Sydney.

“And to be honoured as flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony was absolutely amazing. It was a great Team to be part of and walking “After years out there we felt like we could take on the world of wondering and we did.” whether I had Reflecting on his Sydney experience, Burkett remembers that the incredible highs he peaked, it gave felt during the Games were matched by me the confidence debilitating lows. I needed to get “I felt the extremes of emotions – the highest of highs during the Opening Ceremony and me to the home disasters when I didn’t defend my title in the Games in Sydney.” 50 metres freestyle. Obviously it was awesome to compete at a home Games, to carry the 16 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue How A ‘One-Team’ Approach Transformed Our Sporting Psyche 17

. We were a divided group of athletes It was where Australia’s Para-athletes and their How A ‘One Team’ pulled together by disability, not by sport.” families could meet and relax. Press conferences and other media events were staged there in what A similar dynamic existed in 1984 when athletes became a daily ritual during competition. Approach Transformed with spinal cord injuries competed at Stoke Mandeville in the UK and athletes with other “We set up a table outside, where our athletes Our Sporting Psyche impairments competed in New York.. Bird later were signing autographs for the public,” Bird said. became involved in management, but only for the “Something I’ll never forget is that no matter BY DAVID SYGALL amputee group. For Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta, there were four section managers for each Games, what time of day it was there was a massive line each representing a disability, rather than the of people - kids, families, parents - all waiting Team as a whole. to meet the athletes. They were getting their autographs on anything, shirts, programs, Even at Paralympics Australia Board level, Bird’s anything they had with them. It was amazing. We role was confined to representing amputee were absolutely gobsmacked. athletes. Things needed to change, he believed, and the way to do it was to bring sports in as “Then you’d come around the corner, look down members, rather than maintaining a split between the corridor between the main stadium and the the groups. other venues and it was a sea of people every day. I’d never seen anything like it.” “Rather than just sport or amputee sport or blind sport or cerebral palsy sport - the At Ansett House and far beyond, the public’s goal was to bring together ‘one Team’. We are one hunger to learn about the athletes’ stories and Team and we have one culture,” he said. sports was unceasing. The media responded with an insatiable appetite for interviews, results and “We started putting that in place in the three information. years before Sydney. We did it with a range of Paul Bird (centre) with flag bearer Brendan Burkett educational opportunities and groupings together “We knew ticket sales had gone well but, of managers, coaches, section managers and beyond that, there was really no indication this others. We wanted to make it about sport, not was coming. You couldn’t get into the venues. The enormous roar that greeted Australian athletes as they entered the about what kind of disability an athlete had. I remember , even for the stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Paralympics meant more preliminary rounds you couldn’t get a seat. Same to Paul Bird than perhaps anyone else. “As we worked towards it, it began to rearrange with swimming. We’d never experienced that the way the athletes saw themselves - you are an anywhere in the world. athlete first, not someone with a disability. Let’s Bird was Chef de Mission of the Australian amputee section - which was separate from have you be judged as an athlete. “Previously it was more rent-a-crowd. In Seoul, Team, a post he held also for the 2004 Games. the wheelchair section, which was separate for instance, there were lots of people, but they He’d been Deputy Chef de Mission in 1992 and from athletes with vision impairment, which was “It transformed things at other levels, too, in that weren’t really paying customers, they were bussed 1996 and was again in 2008. In 1988 he’d been separate from the cerebral palsy section. it put sport at the forefront of decision making, in, given flags and told to make noise. They a section manager after having competed at rather than things being dictated by particular weren’t the general public wanting to come to the Arnhem in 1980, where he won a swimming gold “We flew to Holland as ‘a team’ but I didn’t know impairments. The result put us on track to be Games. medal. In New York in 1984, he added another anyone else in the team,” Bird said. where we are now, with Para-sport firmly situated gold and silver to his ledger. “Barcelona enjoyed some good crowds but in “When we arrived we were housed separately. in the Australian psyche.” Sydney everything gelled and the public couldn’t Throughout those years Bird experienced Our amputee group was in a building by The fruits of Bird’s toil were displayed for the first get enough of it. an array of Paralympic ups and downs. But, ourselves, we were looked after by our manager time at the Sydney Opening Ceremony. But the of all the injustices and inefficiencies he’d and a coach and that was it. We never really benefits of his one-team approach continued “It was a great outcome and a big learning curve encountered, none seemed as wrong as the joined the other athletes. throughout the event, perhaps no more clearly for everyone in our Team. But I think that was the earliest. key thing for me, that we were really one Team.” “The really terrible thing was that we weren’t than at Ansett House, a tent which was set up across from the then-recently built Novotel Hotel At the 1980 Games, Bird was part of the included in the Opening Ceremony because the only athletes allowed to march were those in at Sydney Olympic Park. 18 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Honour Role 19

The Athletes of the 2000 Australian Frank Arratia Lynette Nixon Kerrie-ann King Robbie Vogt Lee Collins Paul O’Neill Jo Ruba Judo Paralympic Team for the Sydney Tim Devine Sarnya Parker Robyn Stephens Anthony Clarke Paralympics were: Simon Ishac Daniel Polson Goalball – Bradley Lee Christopher Scott Men’s Powerlifting Lee Cox Lisa McIntosh Tyson Lynch Noel Sens Rob Crestani Shaun Cavuoto Roy Daniell Jeffrey McNeill Nicholas Maroney Russell Wolfe Kevin Frew Mark Davies Paul Mitchell Adam Meredith Equestrian Paul Harpur Steve Green Michael Dowling Andrew Newell Brett Phillips Paul Hyde Rosalie Fahey Troy King Stephen Eaton Paul Nunnari Peter Willoughby Vicky Machen Sue Haydon Warren Lawton John Eden Alison Quinn Brett Wilson Julie Higgins Madelyn Ehlers Sharon Rackham Justin Wrbik Marita Hird Don Elgin Allyson Richards Boccia Judy Hogan Kurt Fearnley Sam Rickard Warren Brearley Sue-Ellen Rebecca Feldman Ed Salmon Lovett Lyn Coleman Anton Flavel Louise Sauvage Anne Skinner Scott Elsworth Patricia Flavel Angie McReynolds Heath Francis Christie Skeleton Football John Richardson Neil Fuller Greg Smith 7-a-side Karen Stewart Terry Giddy Frances Stanley David Barber Murray Goldfinch Meaghan Starr Cycling Shaun Fedele Gerrard Gosens Eric Haddrick Greg Ball Adrian Grogan Claire Summersgill Miguel Paul Clohessy Brian Harvey Steve Thorley Marcelino Christine Fisher Lynda Holt Darren Thrupp Beau Menzies Matthew Gray Bill Hunter Geoff Trappett Mark Morris Steven Gray Clayton Johnson Dean Turner Andrew Darren Harry Panazzolo Angela Ballard Lachlan Jones Bruce Wallrodt Archery Eddie Hollands Christopher Wayne Bell Norma Koplick Katrina Webb Natalie Cordowiner Peter Homann Pyne Malcolm Bennett Tanya Krome Debbie Wendt Arthur Fisk Paul Lake Jason Rand Anthony Biddle Holly Ladmore Jodi Willis Jeremy Thorpe John Marshall Mark le Flohic Russell Billingham John Lindsay Stephen Wilson George Tonna Tony Marturano Lyn Lepore Fabian Blattman Lisa Llorens Amy Winters Athletics Kerry Modra Goalball – Joanne Bradshaw Hamish MacDonald Shayne Allen – Women’s Damien Burroughs John Maclean Intellectual Kieran Ault-Connell Tania Modra Rick Cooke Tim Matthews Penny Bennett Disability David Murray 20 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Honour Role 21

Deahnne McIntyre Peter Thompson Sitting Denise Beckwith Alastair Smales Shaun Groenewe- gen Kim Neuenkirchen Shooting Volleyball Daniel Bell Christian Stafford Gerry Hewson Richard Nicholson Tom Bridge Ellen Steele Edward Bray Adrian King Kahi Puru Scott Brockenshire Brooke Stockham Paul Croft Stephen Guy Michael McFawn Julie Russell Kingsley Bugarin Shane Walsh Darren Gay Elizabeth Kosmala Nick Morris Wayne Sharpe Brendan Burkett Lucy Williams Albert Lee Stan Kosmala Melissa Trafela Melissa Carlton Stacey Williams Brant North Jeff Lane Shane Porter Sue Twelftree Kate Church Melissa Willson Glenn Pyne Steven McCormack Brook Quinn Dominic Collins Elizabeth Wright Sailing Kevin Price James Nomarhas Troy Sachs – Priya Cooper Brett Roworth Jamie Dunross Paul Schofield Table Tennis Tracey Cross Greg Sobczak Wheelchair Graeme Martin Peter Shannon Bill Medley Paul Cross Basketball Bruce Thompson Michael McLean Peter Tait Ross Schurgott Gemma Dashwood – Gliders Mark Whiteman Noel Robins Peter Worsley Nicole Davey Wheelchair Basket- Julianne Adams Standing Cameron de Burgh ball – Rollers Volleyball Patrick Donachie Troy Andrews Paula Coghlan Daniel Byrne Brad Dubberley Sandy Blythe Mellissa Dunn Nick Coburn Janelle Falzon David Gould Karen Farrell Japhy Duldig Amanda Fraser Alison Mosely Peter Harding

Joe Egan Megan Grant Lisa O’Nion George Hucks

Greg Hammond Judith Green Donna Ritchie Tom Kennedy

Brett Holcombe Jeff Hardy Nadya Romeo Craig Parsons

Nick Kaiser Alex Harris Sharon Slann Steve Porter

Adam Lusted Sarah Houlbolt Liesl Tesch Patrick Ryan Bill McHoul Alicia Jenkins Jane Webb Steven Neal Marayke Jonkers Wheelchair Grant Prest Dianna Ley Fencing David Hall Nigel Smith Karni Liddell Michael Alston David Johnson Swimming Tamara Nowitzki Robert Goodwin Branka Pupovac Kirra O’Cass Alicia Aberley Michael Palfery Wheelchair Mark Altmann Siobhan Paton Rugby Ben Austin Stewart Pike Bryce Alman Katerina Bailey This list has been compiled Casey Redford Brett Boylan by contributors to the Petrea Barker Brett Reid Australian Paralympic Cliff Clarke Paul Barnett History Project. David Rolfe Garry Croker 22 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Dream Run Of A Paralympic Champion 23

It was a Saturday night, 60,000 people were in the stands and Neil Fuller was channeling Cathy Freeman.

It was Fuller’s last race of the Sydney Paralympics, them gold, four of which came in Sydney. He said of his ninth across six events, and he was looking to add the 2000 Games: “nearly all my cards fell in place” to the three gold medals and a bronze medal he’d - he missed out on a medal only in the 800 metres, already won. His confidence was high. This was his despite bettering the then world mark. Yet, for all his pet event, the 400 metres , in which he was the success on the track, the 51-year-old school reigning world champion and world record holder. teacher said the Games were about so much more than the competition. Minutes earlier, Fuller had been on the warm-up track, listening to the roars of the crowd inside the “It goes back to when Sydney was awarded main stadium, the muffled speaker announcements the Games, the growth of the movement, the and chants of ‘Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!’ Next thing he ambassador program which I was fortunate to was in the tunnel and then in the call room, where he be involved in, there were media and advertising did his final stretches. The nerves began to set in. opportunities… I was involved in a Toyota ad which was rewarding and enjoyable,” he said. “I reckon I knew exactly how Cathy Freeman felt,” Fuller said. “Of course, the whole nation was on “There was a test event 12 months out, which was Cathy’s journey. But, for me, like Cathy, I went into another big step. You could even gauge then, that 400 expected to win and it put a huge amount coming from interstate, the atmosphere building in of pressure on me.” Sydney, the infrastructure, changes to the airport, transport, everything was accessible, which was The starter’s gun fired and 52.26 seconds later, when a first. You could tell it was going to be something Fuller crossed the line in first place, rather than jump special. about in ecstasy, he dropped to his knees. “Then, when it all got underway, for it to be in your “I’d won but all I could feel in that moment was a home country and to perform at your best at the massive weight being lifted off me,” he said. “It was highest level… I’d been all over the world and won a completely different feeling to when I won the 200.” but, in Sydney, I had friends and family there. I was In the 200 metres, Fuller had been the outsider. working at a school and they had a competition to fly American Roderick Green had broken the world a teacher and three students to watch me race over ‘Keep Going, Keep Going, record in the semi final and, coming off the bend, a couple of days. Those sorts of things were unique.” held a five metre lead over the Australian. Perhaps Fuller’s greatest honour came right at the You’ve Got Him!’: The Dream “I couldn’t hear anything except what was going on end when he was named Australia’s flag bearer for in my head. There was just a voice saying, ‘Keep the Closing Ceremony. going, keep going, you’ve got him!’ With every step, I Run Of A Paralympic Champion “It’s one of those things you can never expect to was narrowing the gap, focusing on the finish line. happen because there were that many outstanding BY DAVID SYGALL “We hit the line together and it seemed like an athletes,” he said. eternity, bobbing my head between the replay “It certainly took me by surprise but it’s certainly screen and the results screen, waiting for the result to something that’s sat well in my resume, being come up. selected from Australia’s biggest ever Team to have “When it brought my name up as first ... even that honour of carrying the flag. speaking about it now 20 years on, it brings those “The only disappointing thing about it was, the feelings back to me. ‘Oh my God, I’ve won’ ” flag bearers came in from the tunnel and some The 200 metres was Fuller’s first individual veered left and some veered right. I went left but the Paralympic gold medal and it came in the third of Australian contingent were all sitting on the right. So I his four Games. In total, he won 15 medals, six of didn’t actually get to walk past the Australian Team!” 24 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue It’s Been A Rocky Road, But Paton Feels Proud Once Again 25

“I’d done so many races at Homebush before. It just us holding on to hope. It got my nose out of joint and felt so normal and natural that the pressure didn’t I’d had enough of the crap. get to me. I just thought of it as another swim meet “It was hard because, after the Paralympics, I did where I had to perform. And I did perform.” interviews, I did charity dinners, I did all those things. Paton finished the Games by celebrating with her But when the ban happened because of what the family at the Closing Ceremony. Spanish basketball team did, everything dried up, even though I was cleared.” “I HAD TO LEARN Paton became depressed and spent six weeks in hospital. During that time, she learnt the importance of expressing her emotions to understand and deal TO TALK, TO SAY with them. ‘I NEED HELP’.” “I had to learn to talk, to say ‘I need help’,” she said. Front and centre of her recovery was her mother, “My mum pointed me out to the security guard and Judith, for whom Paton is now a carer at their said, ‘She’s my daughter’ and the security guard let home in Canberra. She credited Tony Naar, a PA her and my sister and cousin onto the field. We were staff member from 2000 to 2015 and currently It’s Been A Rocky Road, all dancing and having a party. the facilitator of the Australian Paralympic History Project, and Danni Di Toro, PA’s Athlete Welfare and “Nowadays, they wouldn’t be allowed down. But Engagement Officer, for their support. She said But Paton Feels Proud they were allowed down, I was able to sit with my she felt happy to have been invited by Paralympics grandmother, my aunt, my friends that were there as Australia to the launch of the Team for Rio and well. We got our photos taken and everything. It was Once Again enjoyed being on the Paralympic Team Facebook lovely.” BY DAVID SYGALL page. The joy of that night soon took a sour turn. During “It’s all helped me to feel good again about what I the Closing Ceremony, Paton said, she “started did in Sydney,” Paton said. “Everybody has helped. hearing rumours” but “wasn’t fully understanding I wouldn’t be here without them. They had the It’s been a long time coming - far too long - but, tested to see my IQ and all that. They found that I of what everything was”. Within weeks of the patience and time to let me come out and be myself. finally, Siobhan Paton can say wholeheartedly she did have an ID, I’m a slow learner,” she said. Paralympics ending, the rumours turned into a I have a lot to be proud of.” feels proud of her incredible achievements at the scandal when it was revealed that several players in Once her classification was completed, between Sydney Paralympics. Spain’s ID basketball team were not impaired. The 1997 and 2000 Paton dominated at the National team was disqualified and ordered to return their Paton, then just 17, was the most successful titles, IPC World Championships and racing in the medals. Australian athlete at the Games, sweeping the UK, winning scores of gold medals and setting pool to win six gold medals in the S14 classification numerous world records. She seemed destined for The implication for Paton and other ID athletes was for athletes with an intellectual disability (ID). greatness at Sydney 2000 and those indicators severe. The IPC announced in 2003 that all events for proved true. Each of her wins in Sydney was in an intellectually impaired athletes would be suspended However, what should have been the start of a individual event across a range of strokes. for Athens 2004. wonderful career turned into an ordeal in which Paton became an innocent casualty of a shocking “I just had a natural talent for swimming,” she “It was extremely hard,” Paton said. “The IPC were cheating scandal and a system unprepared to said. “I’m not taking away that other people did waffling, saying ‘Yes, you’re going to go back in. No cater for her needs. well, I just happened to be the best on the day you’re not. Yes you are, no you’re not’. and the night. That’s all I can say. It’s only through her strength, the support of “By 2003 I wasn’t training much because I’d had loved ones and significant improvements to “If I wouldn’t have won my races I wouldn’t have enough. Everyone was pulling me in front of the athlete welfare that Paton has felt comfortable been upset because I knew I’d done the best I media, asking me questions, asking what I thought. I reclaiming her rightful place as a star of Australian could. It wasn’t, ‘I’m going to win gold’ and that’s just didn’t like it. Paralympic sport. what I did, it was that each gold was a surprise “I packed it in in 2005. It was double standards because someone could have beaten me out of “I didn’t know anything about the Paralympics because we weren’t in the Paralympics, they just kept left field. If I got silver, that would have been OK. until 1997 when my coach at the time got me 26 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Timeline 27 DID YOU KNOW ?

The Mascot for the games was ‘Lizzie’ the frill- neck lizard. The voice for ‘Lizzie’ was revered DID YOU KNOW ? Australian singer and actor Olivia Newton-John. In the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, DID YOU KNOW ? the then Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) Powerlifting was opened up to saw the need to create a team logo to nurture a female Paralympians for the first strong team identity and culture. time in 2000.

6th April The design of the medals is 12th October unveiled at the Sydney Opera 5th October 19th January House The Torch Relay reaches NSW for 3rd November The flame is lit during a traditional the first time Paralympian David Hall is fire-lighting ceremony at 19th October The Paralympic Village officially announced as the first Torchbearer closes Parliament House, Canberra. Competition of the XI Paralympic The Torch commences its 14-day Games begins journey around Australia

ROAD TO SYDNEY 2000

DID YOU KNOW ? 13th March 11th October 29th October Sailing and wheelchair The ABC announced as the The Paralympic Village officially Closing Ceremony of the Sydney Australian broadcaster for the rugby were contested 9th August opens 18th October 2000 Games as full medal sports Games for the first time at the The Athlete’s Village for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games is Paralympic Games in 2000 Paralympic Games unveiled to the public Sydney.

DID YOU KNOW ? Actors Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson and pop stars Vanessa Amorosi, Christine Anu, Yothu Yindi and Kylie Minogue were among the strong cast of Australian and international performers at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. Photos: Getty Images 28 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Moment that Made the CEO Weep 29

Within days, some police officers from the some areas best kept separated, but others best Parramatta area kitted out the pair so they could integrated.” compete at their best. But their involvement was Staffing was an area of great success. For example, never really about athletic excellence. Appleby said, the manager of basketball for “I remember being in the stadium and there’s Alcino, the Olympics became the assistant manager of probably for the first time in proper running shoes, basketball for the Paralympics, and vice versa. Such about to start his race in front of 65,000 people,” decisions spilled over into other areas of Games Appleby recounted. delivery.

“He’s not a good athlete, he’s in his 40s, he’s got no Sponsors who wanted to be involved in the Olympics real experience, and he gets lapped. And lapped were told the two Games came as a package deal. again. And again. As he would come down the “They complained and said they didn’t want to,” straight, he’d look at the crowd. Appleby said. “You could see he was so overwhelmed by the “Then, after the Games, they’d say, ‘Why didn’t you moment. He’s there in his new shoes, all these tell us? Why didn’t you tell us it was this good?’ Since people cheering him, then he’d start again - and get then, a lot of sponsors have been so keen to be lapped again.” involved in the Paralympics. They were dragged to With the next event due to start, officials had to the table in 2000, but it all changed after Sydney.” pull Pereira out of the race. As a warm gesture, an Not that integration came problem-free. Appleby official presented him with a bouquet of flowers. remembers one of the transport organisers saying, “So, there’s this East Timorese athlete doing another ‘If we can do this for the Olympics, the Paralympics final lap, carrying these flowers, with the crowd on should be a walk in the park’. their feet cheering him on,” Appleby said. “I said, ‘Do you realise we need to transport 340,000 “He had a big smile, he kept stopping and waving schoolchildren? Do you realise we’re going to need to the crowd... We were all in tears. That said it all nearly every disabled access bus in Australia?’ So, about what we were trying to achieve.” there was a scurry at the end to get the transport in place. But, mostly, things worked well. What that did Appleby achieved plenty at the Sydney Paralympics. was show the IOC that these two Games could sit The Moment That Made Apart from staging an event the athletes and public together successfully. loved, she said she was proud of having made the The CEO Weep Games more professional, largely based around “It wasn’t easy. We were always fighting for our the operational integration of SPOC and SOCOG, market share. But, by the time we got to , BY DAVID SYGALL meaning challenges such as sponsorship and people were talking about the Olympics and staffing we met by the organising committees in Paralympics in the same breath. Sydney could take , rather than separately. It was an approach a great deal of pride in that.” sparked by the failures an Australian observation Sitting in the stands wiping away tears was not project she’d poured her heart and soul into finally team saw in Atlanta in 1996. part of Lois Appleby’s brief. hit home. “Our people were walking around the Atlanta venues As the Chief Executive Officer of SPOC, the Sydney A couple of weeks earlier, two athletes had arrived between the Games there and they were appalled,” Paralympics Organising Committee, Appleby from East Timor, a country that didn’t officially Appleby said. “Power cords were cut, the venues had spent close to six years fixed on delivering a exist yet but had been invited to send competitors were filthy… It was a disaster. financially sound and well organised event. She to the Olympics and Paralympics. had no experience with disability and, though she “One of the SOCOG guys said, ‘Well, we can’t let this Powerlifter Mateus Lukas and 5000 metre runner respected the athletes, her focus was purely on the happen in Sydney’. That’s when we knew we had to Alcino Pereira flew into Sydney Airport with empty business of the Games. do things differently. bags. They had no running shoes, no sports gear That all changed when, watching a day of athletics and no spare clothes. Lukas was using a piece of “We started looking at how we could integrate at Stadium Australia, the emotional reality of the timber as a walking crutch. policy back-of-house and we decided there were 30 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue ‘The Sydney Paralympics Changed My World’ 31

‘The Sydney Paralympics Changed My World’

BY DAVID SYGALL 32 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue

Well before Kurt Fearnley established himself as one of professional athlete. We probably jumped into it a couple of years before the rest of the world. the nation’s greatest athletes, he humbly and excitedly We were definitely a bit ahead of the curve. began his Paralympic career in the midst of legends. “In the six months leading up there were team They were around him on the podium at his at Sydney, a large part of his future direction can camps. I didn’t know any better, I’d never been first Games and they were littered throughout be attributed to what he learnt during those 11 to anything like it before, but I just remember Australia’s Sydney 2000 Para-athletics Team. days and the months leading up to them. thinking everyone knew those Games were coming up and everyone was holding each “It was incredible to get a medal in the 800,” “There was no pressure whatsoever for me at other to account. There was a really intense Fearnley said of his first Paralympic success, a Sydney, it was just exciting. Everything felt so feel to the whole thing well before we even silver in the 800 metres T54. exciting. I was just a kid rolling with it,” he said. took to the track. Everyone was in the zone. Everyone knew we were going to have a lot of “I was on the podium with [Canada’s] Jeff “When you’re 18, at your first Games, you’re just support and everyone knew we needed to be Adams and [Mexico’s] Saúl Mendoza, who bouncing from room to room and event to event. committed. There were a lot of our athletes were legends of the sport. I wanted to get up It’s just a blur. who wanted that moment in front of their home on the podium at those Games, but it was all a big unknown for me. It was a challenging “The key thing for me was that I was learning to crowd and to do really well.” classification, a very challenging competition. I be a Paralympian around people who expected On the reasons for Australia’s Para-athletics was 18 years old and you never really know how more of themselves. I was part of an extremely success at Sydney 2000, Fearnley is certain. it’s going to go. You get kind of caught up in a driven team, an extremely professional team However, he is less sure of the wider outcomes whirlwind, seeing all these incredible athletes nail and you felt you were taking things to a different of those Games. their sport. level.

“It would have been good to have invested in “It never felt like it was real, getting that medal. “We were chock full of stars that had won at But it was a moment that sprung me forward for previous Games. They had lots of experience surveys to find out what the Australian public the next 20 years.” and success. It was such a big year. You had Neil thought of disability before and after the Fuller, Amy Winters, Lou Sauvage, Greg Smith … Games, so then we could really know if it was Australia won a world-beating 63 Para-athletics there were so many gold medals among them, an inflection point,” he said. medals at the Sydney Games, more than half of so many great athletes in our Team, and I was them gold, to comfortably tally ahead of Great just a young fella enjoying the whole thing. “I know that the word ‘Paralympic’ meant more Britain and the United States. Fearnley won two to the wider community in this country because silver medals. “It was incredible, we were winning gold medals we got further into the Australian sporting every day. It was massive. Greg Smith won conscience. I think that, especially for Australia, Across the next four Paralympics, Fearnley three, Louise won two or three, Tim Sullivan it did raise the profile of the Paralympic would win a further 11 medals, including won a few, Neil won a couple, Tim Matthews ... movement and athletes with disabilities and three gold. He also claimed multiple world we had a massive number of athletes perform gave a voice to a lot of strong advocates in championships, international marathons and at their best at those Games. It’s impossible to different parts of the community. But, to say triumphs. replicate.” that we changed the lives of lots of people with disabilities, I don’t think we’re able to do that. Away from competition, Fearnley established Beyond the quality of the athletes, Fearnley himself as a strong advocate for people said a big reason for Australia’s success was the “We’re still here with train stations that aren’t with disabilities, particularly through way the Team and associated staff set about accessible, buildings that aren’t accessible, ambassadorships and board representation, reaching its potential years before the Games. shops that aren’t accessible, stadiums that including the National Disability Insurance have limited accessible seating - I don’t think Scheme’s Independent Advisory Council, “When we won the right to host the Paralympics, we were really focusing on that at that time. Australian Volunteers International and the we ran with it,” he said. Australian Day Council of NSW. “We developed a more professional team, “What I do know is that the Games changed my world and was one of the most incredible While Fearnley more closely resembled a kid in a a more professional outlook, our athletes lollie shop than a future star of Australian sport were more committed to what it took to be a experiences of my life.” 34 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue A Remarkable Legacy In Which Sydney Shines Brightest 35

a great feeling for us to be competing with them all watching on. It really gave a wonderful A Remarkable Legacy atmosphere for the participants. “Some of those children would get up at 4 in the In Which Sydney morning, get on busses and come to the arenas for 9 o’clock, stay all day and then be shipped back home late the same night. It happened Shines Brightest day after day. It’s the first time I could recall that happening. It was a very clever move.

BY DAVID SYGALL “I’d do my competition and then I’d be signing There are many reasons national treasure Paralympians had developed by the turn of the autographs for the kids, saying hello to them, Libby Kosmala counts the Sydney Paralympics century. answering their questions. ‘Why are you in a as the peak of her astounding 12 Paralympic wheelchair? What’s wrong with your legs?’ They “Well, you have to remember, in the early years experiences. wanted simple answers and I gave them that. I the accommodation for the Paralympians was in thought it was great that they wanted to talk to There were the fans who lined up for her a very different place,” she said. people who were disabled and learn about it and autograph day after day and wanted to ask her get to know us.” “At my first Games, in 1972, although it was in questions about her impairment. There was the Germany, our competition was in a completely unbridled joy - and pressure - of performing in Kosmala didn’t add to her personal medal tally different city. We were in Heidelberg, but the front of crowds bathed in green and gold. There at Sydney. But she did manage to beat her were in Munich, so there wasn’t was the unique experience of competing at the husband Stan when they competed in the air rifle any such thing as a Village for us to stay in. highest level alongside her husband, Stan (and prone, the first time they had competed in the same event. finishing ahead of him). “In Beijing the accommodation was very good. But, before Sydney, things were quite different Yet, the first thing Kosmala mentions when “He’d been to two other Paralympics, but he was for the most part, and not as good.” asked for her favourite memory of Sydney 2000 in different events to me,” Kosmala said has more to do with utility than the magic that Despite being housed close to the dining hall, “Still, they kept us apart. Stan was at one end seemed to envelop the city between October 18 Kosmala’s shooting competition was at Cecil of the range and I was on the other, which was and 29 that year. Park, about half an hour’s drive west of Sydney probably a smart move by the organisers! When it Olympic Park. It was there that the nine-time “We were very honoured, the Australian Team, was all over, naturally, we got together. Stan had gold medallist savoured some of the other shot the best he’d ever shot, so he was very happy. to be placed in the Games Village very close to “Then, my other son, Luke, who’s four years wonders of Australia’s first Paralympics. Unfortunately, I missed out on a medal by a close the dining hall,” Kosmala said. older than James, came across for the Closing margin. But it was great to compete with him.” “The stands were filled up with people, unlike at “To me, it made the Games so much more Ceremony, so all four of us were there. It was a the other Games I went to,” she said. enjoyable. We didn’t have to push up hills or In fact, by the Games’ end, the whole Kosmala wonderful night.” family was involved. Son James had finished anything like that, like in Rio, where I had to push “I remember at some of the Paralympics, there Kosmala retired from competition in September school in 1999 and wanted to travel from Adelaide 1.5k’s to get to the dining room to have a drink were our athletes circling around the track and this year, leaving a remarkable Paralympic legacy. to be part of the Olympics and Paralympics. or some dinner. So that was a really big thing for no one was clapping or cheering, no one was When she looks back on her career, the Sydney Kosmala was acquainted with the venue manager me. there to watch, which I always thought was sad. Games shine brightest. for the archery, Terry Reilly, and contacted him The atmosphere in Sydney was totally different. “It was also lovely to be very close to the to see if there was an opportunity for her son to It was amazing, every single day. “People still talk about it all around the world. We transport. And, it was just nice not having volunteer. certainly did blow their minds. They all thought it to travel thousands of miles to get to a “I think it was very smart the way the transport was unbelievable. “He said, ‘I need someone like James over here competition.” was organised. They had all these busses go out now’,” Kosmala recalled. “So, James went across and pick up school children from all over NSW “People came from all around Australia, too, and For a standout memory, being close to the and stayed for six months and had a wonderful and shift them back to the venues so they could they all said the Paralympics was much better buffet might sound trivial. But for 78-year- time. He really enjoyed organising and running all have a little look at what disabled people than the Olympics. They loved it. It was a feather old Kosmala, having competed at every the archery with everyone else. He really grew up could do in sport. in everyone’s cap, all the athletes, officials, judges, Paralympics between 1972 and 2016, it’s an during that time and learnt a lot. everyone.” indicator of how far the Games and respect for “It was a great educational idea and it was How A Brutal Sydney Experience Re-Shaped Athlete Welfare 37

There was every reason to believe Danni Di Toro they kind of hoped I’d just get over it and sort it would reach the gold medal match at the Sydney out,” Di Toro said. Paralympics. “What I experienced was ‘If we don’t speak about However, not only did Di Toro herself know it wasn’t it, it’ll just go away and be fine’. But, of course, it going to happen, the wheelchair tennis star had to wasn’t. endure her inevitable defeat in a very lonely place. “When I got knocked out, the tennis team had no Di Toro had been the world’s No.1 ranked women’s words for me, didn’t know how to respond to me singles player for most of the three years leading as a human being losing in front of 10,000 people into Sydney, losing only the final of the US Open in Sydney, in front of an incredible Australian shortly before the Games to drop back to No.2. Still, crowd that had come to celebrate us. with massive home support, she was expected to at “When I went back to the Village it was like I had least be on the podium by tournament’s end. leprosy. It’s like everyone knew, but no one was saying anything, no one even asked me how I “I’d been playing about 20 tournaments a year, was. I ended up having to leave because it was so doing four international tours and then the intense and I went and hung out with a mate. It felt Australian tour each summer, all back-to-back,” Di like it was the only safe place for me.” Toro said. Shortly after arriving at her friend’s place, Di “I was training through Christmas and New Year Toro suffered a fall which left her concussed. She and then playing from early January through to underwent an MRI scan back at the Village the November. I was flying around constantly, which is next day and was cleared to play in the doubles challenging, particularly with a spinal cord-injured with her partner Branka Pupovac. body like mine, and it had an impact mentally too. “I could barely function,” she said. “But Branka “I knew I was burnt out and struggling. It all came to and I had played a lot of tennis and winning that a head, unfortunately, at the Sydney Games. I knew silver medal in the doubles was such a beautiful I wasn’t going to make the final.” and proud moment. That took a bit of sting out of everything.” Exiting in the quarter finals was hard enough. But what happened afterwards left an indelible mark Di Toro, 45, won a bronze medal at the 2004 on Di Toro, sparking a 20-year campaign by the Paralympics and has competed at six Games. ToroBranka Pupovac & Daniela Di Victorian to change the way organisations, including After in 2012, she switched to table tennis Paralympics Australia, understood and catered for and gained selection for Rio in 2016, where she was the welfare of Para-athletes. also named Australian Team Captain alongside Kurt Fearnley, a post she will hold also for Tokyo Di Toro had studied for a degree in Behavioural 2020. Sciences, so mental health was on her radar. She’d How A Brutal Sydney seen her sporting colleagues “quickly discarded” Di Toro has been recognised for her achievements, as they passed their peak or retired. She knew how including being named Australian Paralympian of burdensome the pressure to perform could be and the Year, Young Victorian of the Year and receiving the challenges that came with failure and even the Australian Sports Medal. However, it’s her work Experience Re-Shaped as Paralympics Australia’s Athlete Engagement success. After her personal experience at Sydney, she became determined to ensure athletes’ and Wellbeing Officer, a new role to which she was mental health be viewed as equally important to appointed in 2017, that is improving the lives of her Athlete Welfare their physical health. sporting peers. “I was honest and vocal about where I was at - “My story of what happened in Sydney might not BY DAVID SYGALL being open is a pretty vulnerable place to be - but have been the same for others, but what I found it was pretty much ignored by my team. I think was that, instead of asking, ‘How can we support you?’, they’d say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realise you were that weak’. It was pretty brutal. environment. Every Para-athlete works their arse off and there’s this brief window once every four “In the match I lost, the crowd could see that I years when everyone sees what you’re able to do. was struggling. Even though I had nothing in the If you do well, a whole bunch of doors open. There tank, I felt incredible support from the crowd. I felt are huge expectations and an immense amount of more cared for by the general public than I did by pressure. my team. So, I think when the match was over, I actually felt relief. The thing I knew was coming “We’ve worked really hard to let all our athletes happened and the sky didn’t fall in. know they are more important than their performance and it’s important to get around your “I remember my good friend, who was one of the fellow athletes when things don’t go well for them. media people at the time, came into the pit before And, it’s not just when things go wrong, success I exited the court and that allowed me to be a bit also brings challenges and opens people up to protected from the cameras and the questions horrible things that others can say and do to them. and all that, and centre myself for a moment. SHOP ONLINE NOW “Leading into Rio, Kurt and I and Kate [Chef de “She went and told the media that I’d do my press Mission Kate McLoughlin] wanted to embed this conference in half an hour. Even a little thing like sort of thing within the team and make sure the that was so important.” whole Paralympics Australia organisation sees how Di Toro believes progress has been made to the important it is. All the things I’ve been saying for 20 extent that her experience in 2000 would not years are now being heard in a different way and happen today. it’s great.

“If we had an athlete now speak about the kind of “There’s still a shift to go. But, on so many levels, things I did - or say they were struggling in any way I think we do this stuff a lot better. Paralympics - I have no doubt that every single sport would put Australia now has a whole welfare team. We’ve some support around that athlete, whatever that got two athlete liaison officers, an embedded looked like,” she said. psychologist and a pastoral care person. They’re all very good at what they do and what we’re “Sports are a lot more aware and ready to see learning from them is filtering right through the the athlete as a whole person and appreciate team. I’m really pleased about that.” that a Paralympic Games is a high-pressure 40 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Golden day brings back memories two decades on 41 Golden Day Brings Back Memories Two Decades On

BY TIM MANNION

With the roar of thousands in his ears, and only Two decades later, Matthews continues to the finish line in sight, Tim Matthews pounded oversee the development of the next generation down the track, baton in hand, and made of talent. As Senior Manager of Para-sport for history on the final day of competition at the Paralympics Australia, an organisation he has Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games as part of given 15 years of meritorious service to, it’s fair Australia’s victorious 4x100 metres relay team. to say his opinion of the Sydney 2000 Games is well-qualified. Tasked with running the all-important last bend, Matthews passed the baton to anchor “Competing against Heath Francis, who flew down the final straight to seal the world record for athletes with an the best in the world in amputation/limb deficiency, and victory for Australia in the same final for the third front of my family and consecutive Paralympics. friends for the first time

It was one of the 12 Australian track and was pretty special and field gold medals won that day and ensured something I’ll never Australia topped the medal tally with 63 gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze. forget.”

“It was the highlight of my competition,” “Having been to the Atlanta, Sydney and Matthews said Athens Games as an athlete followed by the Beijing Games as a commentator, the London “I’d had a long competition and it was just Games as a coach and Rio as a spectator, it’s phenomenal to end four years of training and safe to say Sydney changed everything,” He hard work with a gold medal on the last day. It said. seemed like the Australian anthem played non- stop and I was incredibly proud to be part of “The Atlanta and Sydney Games were chalk just one of those golds.” and cheese. In Sydney, great crowds came to see Paralympic sport and they liked what they For Matthews, the Sydney Paralympic Games saw, which was elite competition by some of the were his most successful, winning two gold best athletes in the world and they kept coming medals and two bronze medals on the track. back for more. This followed through to Athens, Beijing, London and even Rio. “Competing against the best in the world in front of my family and friends for the first time “The greatest thing to come from the Games was pretty special and something I’ll never though was the introduction of minimum forget,” Matthews said. qualifying standards. It gave the Sydney Games and all future Paralympics competition more “The Games were fantastically organised and credibility, gave the Paralympic movement the

Brendan Burkett Brendan embraced by the whole city – it was an amazing recognition it deserves as elite sport and that’s experience.” exactly what people want to watch.” Tim Sullivan Amy Winters: Women’s 100m , Women’s 200m T46 Jodi Willis-Roberts: Women’s ShotPutF12 Geoff Trappett: Men’s 100m T54 m T38 400 Tim Sullivan: Men’s 100m T38, Men’s 200m T38, Men’s m T52 5000 Greg Smith:Men’s 800m T52, Men’s 1500m T52, Men’s Russell Short: Men’sShort: Russell Discus ThrowF12, Men’s Put Shot m T54 Louise Sauvage: Women’s 5000m T54, Women’s 1500 Alison Quinn: Women’s 100m T38 Paul Mitchell: Men’s 1500m T20 T38, Women’s 200m T38 Lisa McIntosh: Women’s 100m T37, Women’s 400m Jump F20, Women’s 200m T20 Lisa Llorens: Women’s Long Jump F20, Women’s High John Lindsay:Men’s 100m T53 Neil Fuller: Men’s 200m T44, Men’s 400m T44 Heath Francis : Men’s 400m T46 Anton Flavel:Men’s Javelin Throw F20 Rebecca Feldman: Women’s 400m T34 Stephen Eaton:Men’s Discus Throw F34 Joanne Bradshaw: Women’s ShotPutF37 Fabian Blattman:Men’s 400m T51 Athletics GOLD 42

Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue

AUSTRALIAN MEDALLISTS MEDALS SYDNEY 2000HONOUR ROLL F12

Swimming person Noel Robins, Jamie Dunross, Graeme Martin: Three Sailing Mixed dressage Freestyle grade III Julie Higgins:Mixeddressage Championshipgrade III, Equestrian Mark leFlohic:Mixedtricycle5.4kmtimetrial CPdiv open Lyn Lepore, LynetteNixon: Women’s tandemroad race Christopher Scott:MixedbicycletimetrialCPdiv4 Daniel Polson: Mixedbicycleroad race LC2 Peter Homann: Mixedbicycle road race CPdiv4 tandem open, Women’s 1kmtimetrialtandemopen Sarnya Parker, Tania Modra: Women’s individualpursuit Matthew Gray: Mixed1kmtimetrialLC1 Paul Clohessy, Darren Men’s Harry: tandemsprintopen Team Sprint LC1-LC3 Greg Ball,Matthew Gray, Paul Lake: MixedOlympic Cycling Francis: Men’s 4×400mrelay T46 Stephen Wilson, NeilFuller, Tim Matthews, Heath Sullivan: Men’s 4×400mrelay T38 KieranAult-Connell,Grogan, Tim Darren Adrian Thrupp, Francis: Men’s 4×100mrelay T46 Stephen Wilson, NeilFuller, Tim Matthews, Heath Sullivan: Men’s 4×100mrelay T38 KieranAult-Connell,Grogan, Tim Darren Adrian Thrupp,

Brendan Burkett

David Hall–men’s singles Wheelchair Tennis Men’s 4×100mfreestyle relay S14 Brett Reid,Paul Cross, Patrick Pike: Donachie,Stewart Gemma Dashwood:400mfreestyle Priya Cooper:400mfreestyle Judith Green: 100mbreaststroke SB6 freestyle S14,200mindividualmedleySM14 S14, 50mfreestyle S14,100mfreestyle S14,200m Siobhan Paton: 50mbackstroke S14,50mbutterfly Hardy:Jeff 400mfreestyle S12 individual medleySM12 Kingsley Bugarin:100mbreaststroke SB12,200m Paul Barnett:100mbreaststroke SB9 m T38 m T38 Katrina Webb: Women’s 100m T38 Women’s 400 Rebecca Feldman: Women’s 100m T34 Lisa Llorens: Women’s 100 m T20 Lee Cox:Men’s pentathlonP13 Bruce Wallrodt: Men’s shotputF54 Fabian Blattman:Men’s 1500m T51 Fearnley:Kurt Men’s 800m T54 Heath Francis: Men’s 200m T46 Athletics SILVER MEDALS

S9 S9 freestyle Men’s 100m Cameron deBurgh: freestyle Alex Harris:Men’s 100m Swimming Peter Tait: pistolSH1 Mixedsport Shooting Richard Nicholson:Men’s 60kg Powerlifting Paul Lake: Mixedindividualpursuit LC2 tandem open Lyn Lepore, LynetteNixon: Women’s 1kmtimetrial Paul O’Neill: Mixedbicycleroad race LC1 Cycling Trappett: Men’s 4×100mrelay T54 John Lindsay,Paul Fearnley, Nunnari,Kurt Geoff Lynda Holt: Women’s shotputF55 Norma Koplick: Women’s javelinF20 Louise Sauvage: Women’s 800m T54 Alison Quinn: Women’s 200m T38 Sharon Rackham: Women’s 200m T20

Australian Medallists

43 44 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Australian Medallists 45

Ben Austin: Men’s 200 m individual medley SM8 •Steve Porter Rosalie Fahey: Mixed dressage Championship grade I Denise Beckwith, Elizabeth Wright, Melissa Willson, Karni Liddell: Women’s 4×50 m freestyle relay 20 pts Stewart Pike: Men’s 200 m individual medley SM14 •Tom Kennedy Marita Hird: Mixed dressage Freestyle grade III Melissa Carlton, Priya Cooper, Amanda Fraser, Gemma Kingsley Bugarin: Men’s 400 m freestyle S12 •Brad Dubberley Cycling Dashwood: Women’s 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 pts Tamara Nowitzki: Women’s 100 m breaststroke SB7 •Clifford Clarke Christopher Scott: Mixed bicycle road race CP div 4 Priya Cooper, Brooke Stockham, Katerina Bailey, Melissa Carlton: Women’s 100 m freestyle S9 •Brett Boylan Melissa Carlton : Women’s 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 pts Peter Homann: Mixed bicycle time trial CP div 4 Melissa Carlton: Women’s 400 m freestyle S9 •Peter Harding Mark le Flohic: Mixed tricycle 1.9 km time trial CP div 2 Tracey Cross: Women’s 400 m freestyle S11, Women’s •Craig Parsons This list has been compiled by Paul O’Neill: Mixed 1 km time trial LC1 Mixed individual 100 m freestyle S11 contributors to the Australian •Nazim Erdem pursuit LC1 Paralympic History Project. Alicia Aberley: Women’s 100 m freestyle S14, Women’s •George Hucks Paul Lake: Mixed 1 km time trial LC2 200 m individual medley SM14 Eddie Hollands, Paul Clohessy: Men’s 1 km time trial Gemma Dashwood: Women’s 200 m individual medley Wheelchair Tennis tandem open SM10 Daniela di Toro, Branka Pupovac: Women’s doubles Lyn Lepore, Lynette Nixon: Women’s individual pursuit Elizabeth Wright: Women’s 400 m freestyle David Hall, David Johnson: Men’s doubles tandem open Scott Brockenshire, Brendan Burkett, Cameron de Burgh, Shane Walsh, Alex Harris, Justin Eveson: Men’s 4 Swimming × 100 m freestyle relay 34 pts Mark Altmann: Men’s 50 m butterfly S7

Wheelchair Basketball – Women BRONZE MEDALS Alex Harris: Men’s 50 m freestyle S7

•Julianne Adams Athletics Ben Austin: Men’s 100 m butterfly S8 Andrew Newell: Men’s 100 m T20, Men’s 400 m T20 •Jane Webb Scott Brockenshire: Men’s 100 m freestyle S10, Men’s 100 m butterfly S10 •Paula Coghlan Neil Fuller: Men’s 100 m T44 Alicia Aberley: Women’s 50 m breaststroke SB14, •Lisa O’Nion Tim Matthews: Men’s 100 m T46, Men’s 200 m T46 Women’s 200 m freestyle S14 •Amanda Carter John Lindsay: Men’s 200 m T53 Amanda Fraser: Women’s 50 m freestyle S7 •Donna Ritchie Fabian Blattman: Men’s 800 m T51 Tracey Cross: Women’s 50 m freestyle S11 •Sharon Slann Roy Daniell: Men’s Marathon T13 Casey Redford: Women’s 100 m backstroke S9 •Liesl Tesch Brian Harvey: Men’s discus F38 Lucy Williams: Women’s 100 m breaststroke SB6 •Nadya Romeo Murray Goldfinch: Men’s shot put F20 Stacey Williams: Women’s 100 m breaststroke SB7 •Karen Farrell Don Elgin: Men’s pentathlon P44 Brooke Stockham: Women’s 100 m breaststroke SB8, •Mellissa Dunn Rebecca Feldman: Women’s 200 m T34 Women’s 200 m individual medley SM8

•Alison Mosely Katrina Webb: Women’s 200 m T38 Katerina Bailey: Women’s 100 m butterfly S9

Amy Winters: Women’s 400 m T46 Priya Cooper: Women’s 100 m freestyle S8 Wheelchair Rugby - Mixed Trish Flavel: Women’s 800 m T20 Dianna Ley: Women’s 400 m freestyle S9 •Bryce Alman Jodi Willis-Roberts: Women’s discus F12 Cameron de Burgh, Paul Barnett, David Rolfe, •Patrick Ryan Alex Harris, Ben Austin, Daniel Bell, Justin Eveson: Equestrian •Garry Croker Men’s 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 pts

Elizabeth Wright 46 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue Mayhem And Magic Of A Frantic Home Stretch 47

1996 and was stunned to discover that the athletes - but I saw who I thought was the best coach in had been “treated like second class citizens”. He the world, a guy called Terry Vinyard, coaching Mayhem And Magic Of A felt the only way was up and set about working the American team. I took Terry out to dinner, with Chef de Mission Paul Bird and Assistant Chefs ploughed him with wine and beer and suggested de Mission, including Robyn Smith and Tony Naar, he come to Australia and help our program. Frantic Home Stretch to raise the standards of performance and, in turn, make sure the athletes were treated with respect. “When I came back, I told the Board about the BY DAVID SYGALL offer I’d made and they nearly killed me because I “When I started, for instance, our wheelchair rugby was going to spend money on coaches. But Terry team was awful,” Flynn said. said yes and the rest is history. On the night the Games ended, Brendan Flynn “I took a Paralympic athlete out for breakfast. grabbed a bottle of wine and quietly stepped out I don’t want to mention his name, but he made “The 1998 World Championships were in Canada, “The team were just closely beaten for the gold of a function where singer Vanessa Amorosi was me feel like a real idiot. He was a downhill skier, a I went there with my coaching hat on and had to in Sydney and since then, with supercoach Brad performing to a room full of Australian Paralympic Paralympic champion. He didn’t have any arms, report back to the Board about what I thought. Dubberley, they play with immense pride and skill. and Olympic athletes. but he chopped up his breakfast with his knife and That was the kind of thing we did with pretty much fork. He was an accountant, had a wife and two “I sat through something like 50 games in five every sport.” The Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Officer kids … I was sold after that.” days, our team came last - they were a rabble had just finished an epic stretch of work, which included being on the road for 100 of the 104 Over the next two years, Flynn oversaw the final weekends leading up to the Paralympics. He was manic stretch of preparations for Australian exhausted but elated. Paralympic sport’s greatest opportunity. But, far from most of his previous experiences, much of it “I took the bottle, went to a bus stop and poured was done with the barest of resources. A Message From The Lord Mayor a glass,” Flynn said. “I sat there and thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, what have we just done?’ When Flynn started, he said, there were fewer than 10 permanent staff. What they did “was the Of Sydney, Clover Moore “I spent about an hour there reflecting on what work of 100 people”. had been achieved, what the athletes had “Australian Paralympians have a very proud track record. We’ve taken part in every Paralympic Games achieved. It was amazing. It had been the best “Everyone was required to do a mammoth job. We since the first, held in Rome in 1960, and since the Atlanta Games of 1996, we’ve finished in the top five period of time in my working life, without a doubt.” had very little money - the funding we received in in every medal tally. Our Paralympians continue to show us what can achieved with vision, courage and those days, compared to able-bodied sport, was willpower. That’s saying something. Flynn had been involved chalk and cheese - so I was constantly running “The City has been a proud supporter of the Team since the in cycling and basketball at five Olympic Games around chasing sponsors, going to functions, 2000 Paralympics. As well as financial support, we work with before starting as PA’s General Manager of Sport making sure every training camp was well Paralympics Australia to promote the Games and to celebrate in 1998 and advancing to CEO the following year. organised. When the PA role first came up, he wanted to the achievements of our athletes publicly and proudly. We work acquaint himself with what he was getting into. “We would talk to the athletes, talk to the with Para-athletes to promote positive community attitudes managers, the coaches, the medical staff. towards people with disability - a key objective of the City’s We were very hands-on. We had to be. There Inclusion (Disability) Action Plan. was no choice. The small group of people “The year 2000 was an incredibly exciting time in our city’s who worked on this project really gave their history and it’s worth stopping to reflect on and commemorate lives up for the cause. And boy oh boy, were the achievements of those who participated in the Sydney they good. These were people who would just Games, 20 years on. about die for you. “We will once again support the Paralympic Team as they “The results were on show in 2000. To get prepare for Tokyo - support that is perhaps more important the Team to that Opening Ceremony was an than ever given the additional preparation challenges presented by the pandemic. unbelievable amount of work. Those final two years were mayhem.” “For our part, we will continue to increase awareness of both the needs and the contributions made by people living with a disability and to make our City as accessible and inclusive as possible.” Flynn had read the reports from Atlanta in 48 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue How Sydney 2000 Prepared Tesch for Life In Politics 49

athletes that provided that level of education It was a different story after the Games, leading to across the board was amazing. Taking our the next way in which Sydney 2000 helped prepare How Sydney 2000 communities on that journey, to help make those Tesch for her political career. stadiums full, was the experience of a lifetime. I “After we won our silver, we had a big party and never predicted it would lead to the career I have one of the Italian guys said, ‘Do you want to come now, but I do believe it played a significant part.” Prepared Tesch For and play in Europe, Liesl?’ I said, ‘But I’m a girl’. By the Sydney Paralympics, Tesch had competed He said, ‘Well, you’re good enough’. at two Games as part of the Gliders women’s team. The team won the “I never Life In Politics silver medal in Sydney, silver in 2004 and bronze in 2008. Tesch then switched to Para-sailing, where BY DAVID SYGALL she and her sailing partner Dan Fitzgibbon won predicted it back-to-back gold medals in 2012 and 2016 in would lead to the SKUD18 class. Tesch, now 51, retired after Rio and was elected to parliament in the Gosford by- the career I have election in 2017.

Tesch remains involved in Para-sport through her now, but I do work running the Paralympic Mentoring Program, which currently has 12 mentors working with 19 believe it played athletes around Australia to help them achieve their goals in and around sport. a significant

“My life in politics is like my life in the Paralympic part” movement,” she said. “A week later they rang me and said to come “I’ve taken the determination I had as an athlete to Italy. I said no, but then I moved to Spain a into the political world. I was pretty bloody year later to play professional men’s wheelchair determined then to make an impact and it’s the basketball. Never in a squillion years did I think same now. that playing wheelchair basketball at the Sydney Paralympic Games would open doors like that.” “The experiences I had leading into Sydney gave me a voice in the community as someone who Tesch played in Spain for a year, Sardinia for three could achieve good outcomes for people with a years and Paris for a year. disability. Not many people get an opportunity like “Having played sport in those men’s leagues in that, to use their voice, to become a spokesperson Europe, then going into that male orientated for the Games. It really was a privilege.” These days you’ll find Liesl Tesch busily representing her local parliament, it’s just like playing in the Italian men’s community as a NSW Member of Parliament. Playing at the Sydney Paralympics was also a team,” Tesch said. privilege. However, Tesch admitted, coming away hile the gregarious seven-time felt very strongly about,” Tesch said. “It’s about tactics, strategies, working out where with silver, while being the Gliders’ first Paralympic Paralympian’s determination to you can get your wins, how you can achieve the “You name it, I spoke to every community medal, was “horribly anti-climactic”. make an impact in politics is an goals you want to achieve and balancing your W organisation I possibly could to get them extension of her 24-year sporting career, her “Memories of that final game against Canada, for short term and long term goals. There’s so much attached and be part of it. We educated ability to advocate effectively in the seat of me, is like trying to claw my way up a cliff,” she from the sport I played that I apply to my job now. people and put the word ‘Paralympics’ in Gosford is a skill she traces back to her work said. their vocabulary. “It’s also about just being part of a team. A tirelessly promoting the Sydney Paralympics - “I remember the game sliding away from us and political party is like any team - it works best when and what came next. “I’ve got encyclopedias’ worth of training we weren’t able to do what we needed to. We just you’re working together.” diaries and all those speaking engagements “Bringing as many people as possible with us didn’t have enough international experience. We are in there. Being part of the team of on the Sydney 2000 journey was something I were so isolated and, at that stage, international opportunities weren’t there.” 50 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue 51 Sydney 2000 20 Year Anniversary Issue The Australian Paralympian 51

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