Victorian athletes feted in Melbourne as Paralympian calls for gender equity

While the Paris Olympics were a celebration of Australia’s all-conquering women, who won the majority of the nation’s medals, Paralympic gold medallist Emily Petricola says the International Paralympic Committee needs to introduce gender equity to ensure greater female representation in the Paralympics.

Victoria’s returning Olympic and Paralympic athletes were given the warmest of welcomes at Melbourne Park on Saturday – despite cold and drizzly weather – with family, friends and fans forming a guard of honour. As the athletes arrived, they signed autographs and posed for photos.

Emily Petricola shares her new jewellery with Kerry Young and her daughter Riley.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Among the athletes returning home was parcyclist Petricola, fresh from her record-breaking stint in Paris where she set a world record of three minutes, 35.856 seconds in the women’s C4 3000-metre individual pursuit qualifying, before going on to win gold in the final.

Petricola described her victory as “magical”.

“I knew that I’d done the work, and so I just had to let my body do what it needed to do, and then it could fall apart afterwards. And it did, and it was magical,” she said.

“The feeling of being in that velodrome and the sound, and the noise of the crowd when you win … it was really special.”

Emily Petricola celebrates after winning the Women’s C4 3000m Individual Pursuit Final. Credit: Getty Images

She described her world record as a nice “bonus” to her primary goal of reaching the final.

“It was really funny because my coach came over to me and was like, ‘I want you to really think, let this sink in and really appreciate what you’ve done’. And I said, ‘I can’t. We can talk about this after the final because this is not the job’,” she said.

Australia’s Olympic performance in Paris was marked by a record-breaking medal haul of 53 medals – 18 gold, 19 silver and 16 bronze – won mostly by women. But at the Paralympics, it was the men who dominated Australia’s haul, amassing 63 medals – 18 gold, 17 silver and 28 bronze.

Wearing her gold medal, Petricola said the International Paralympic Committee needed to prioritise gender equity.

“There’s not as many spots for women in the Paralympics as there are in the Olympics, there’s no gender equity yet … that needs to change. They need to open up more sports for women to get more representation, so then there can be more balance with the medals,” she said.

Green and gold was the theme at Melbourne Park, as basketballer Marianna Tolo greeted fans.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Basketballer Marianna Tolo, who won bronze with the Opals in Paris, spoke of the solidarity between Australia’s women athletes at the Games and the positive experience overall.

“I think one of my favourite parts was cheering on the water polo women as well. Coming from basketball, we really felt the love from the whole team, and we knew that women were doing really well, and we had that feeling of support from the whole team and everyone around us,” Tolo said.

Opals captain Tess Madgen was proud of achieving bronze after the disappointment of previous Games, but joked that she wished the medal was a “couple shades lighter”.

Opals team member Marianna Tolo greets fans at Melbourne Park on Saturday.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“Our tournament got off to a shaky start, losing that first game,” Madgen said.

“We’ve come a long way in the last three years where we didn’t podium in Tokyo, and we didn’t podium in Rio either, and it is expected of the Opals to win a medal. Basketball’s got a lot better around the world, so it’s becoming harder and harder [to win] too.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team and what we were able to achieve.”

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