Last chapter added to late Paralympian Kieran Modra’s story five years after his tragic death

Five years after he was killed while riding his bike on the Sturt Highway, the final chapter of Paralympian and champion cyclist Kieran Modra’s biography is being launched.

Just 18 months before he was killed riding his bike on the Sturt Highway, Kieran Modra’s uncle released a book of the Paralympian’s inspirational, gold-medal-winning life.

This Sunday, author Andy Thurlow is unveiling the final, posthumous chapter of that sold-out biography, Kieran Modra: The Way I see It.

“My wife read it and cried,” said Mr Thurlow, who has asked Modra’s long-term cycling coach, Paralympic legend Kevin McIntosh, to officially relaunch the completed work.

“It felt like the book was incomplete. I felt we needed to finish his story. He was so very inspirational and such an amazing person. He influenced everybody.

“I have done it as a tribute to Kieran, his story deserves to be told … and it’s been an absolute honour to write.”

Paralympic champion Kieran Modra. Picture Campbell Brodie

Mr Thurlow’s original version of Modra’s uplifting biography finished with the champion athlete – who was born with juvenile optic atrophy and had 15 per cent vision – debating whether he would retire or compete in the Tokyo Paralympics.

But the author started to think about adding a final chapter to Modra’s story in the months after the Paralympian’s tragic death in 2019. The 47-year-old was killed when he was hit by a car while riding his bike at Kingsford, about 10km northeast of Gawler.

In the final, 4000-word chapter, Mr Thurlow details Modra’s posthumous induction into the SA Sporting Hall of Fame in 2020 – a fitting tribute to the world-record breaker’s triumphant 30-year career that started in Seoul in 1988 and saw him win five gold and three bronze medals in tandem cycling and two bronze medals for swimming. Modra also won several world championship medals and held multiple world records. He also won two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The cover of the updated version of Andy Thurlow’s biography of Adelaide Paralympian Kieran Modra.

Kieran Modra with his Paralympic medals and the original version of the biography, Kieran Modra: The Way I See It.

The last chapter also tells the story of the Aussie Paralympians’ touching tribute to their lost teammate at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where cyclists wore a patch inside their jackets and on the brim of their Akubra hats with the words: “Kieran Modra 1972-2019 Go for it.”

“He is just incredibly inspirational,” said Mr Thurlow, who took five years to write the original version of Modra’s biography after he retired from teaching in 2013.

“Not only was he dealing with his own disability, he also had to overcome injuries, broken bones and even selection issues. And he always came home with the most fabulous stories.

“But over and above all of that, in the end he was just a very loving and caring and sensitive man.”

Andy Thurlow, author of Kieran Modra: The Way I see It, with his wife and Modra's aunt, Marlene.

The endlessly energetic Modra – who was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia medal for service to sport and to low-vision and blind people – competed in eight Paralympics in athletics, swimming and cycling.

His wife, Kerry, acted as pilot in Atlanta in 1996, helping Modra win his first gold medal. She competed with him again in Sydney.

The relaunched biography is dedicated to Modra’s widow and their three daughters, Holly, Makala and Janae.

Kieran Modra with wife Kerry Modra and their girls Makala, Holly and Janae in 2016. Picture: Mark Brake

“This final chapter does bring some kind of closure to his amazing story,” Mr Thurlow said. “But Kieran’s mantra, ‘you don’t know what you can’t do until you try it’, his unbelievable achievements and his example as a humble and caring man lives on.”

Kieran Modra: The Way I See It is available here.