Extract from Hansard [ASSEMBLY — Thursday, 8 September 2016] p5709c-5709c Ms Lisa Baker

PARALYMPIC GAMES — EQUESTRIAN TEAM Statement by Member for Maylands MS L.L. BAKER (Maylands) [12.52 pm]: On 11 September in Rio, three Paralympic debutants will join Sharon Jarvis to make up the 2016 Australian Paralympic equestrian team. Jarvis will lead teammates , Katie Umback and Lisa Martin on the equestrian arena at Deodoro Stadium. Australia has won nine medals in equestrian events at the Paralympic Games—three gold, one silver and five bronze—since the sport was introduced in Atlanta in 1996. WA-based Jarvis, who has limited strength and movement on her left side as a result of bone cancer, has been training for eight years, after narrowly missing out on a medal at the Beijing 2008 games. This year she will be competing with horse Ceasy, a Dutch Warmblood mare, when she competes in the grade III class. She says, “I want to show cancer sufferers and survivors that anyone can achieve great things, and I particularly want to show everyone in country WA that they can get there too.” Twenty-five-year-old Emma Booth, a paraplegic, will be riding her 13-year-old Danish Warmblood, Zidane. Emma says that she has earned the right to compete at the top of her sport, which is amazing and exciting. Forty-four-year-old Lisa Martin, who will be riding her horse First Famous, is relishing the opportunity to compete in Rio, along with Katie Umback, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago.

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