The making of Australia's brightest Paralympic stars

Sacrifice, spirit, and strength

We spoke with Vanessa Low, Brenden Hall and Lauren Parker about Paralympic greatness, and fighting for gold in Paris. 

They smash stereotypes daily and demonstrate mind-boggling feats of resilience. Now three of our hottest medal hopefuls reveal why Paris 2024 is about so much more than going for gold.

Vanessa Low, 33, Long jump

Vanessa Low, Paralympian.

Despite a glittering trophy shelf – stacked with gold and silver from Rio, gold in Tokyo from 

a world-record leap, and six World Championship medals – Paralympic long jumper Vanessa Low doesn’t need to repeat a podium finish to count these Games a success. “It sounds silly, because of course I want to win, but I don’t think that’s essential for it to be a positive outcome for me,” says the 33-year-old. “Being my fourth Games, being a mum, being a little older, I feel really at peace this time around.” 

Low – who lost both her legs in a train accident at 15 –competed for her home country Germany before donning the green and gold in 2019 after marrying husband-turned-coach, Scott Reardon, a former Paralympic gold-medal sprinter.

Post-Tokyo, Low decided her competing days weren’t done, but she didn’t want to wait any longer to start a family. So she took inspiration from Allyson Felix, who became the most decorated US track and field athlete in Olympic history after becoming a mum. “That was just a bit of assurance – it is possible, you can still be a really great athlete and a mother at the same time,” she says. 

After Low struggled with sickness and reduced mobility in the later stages of a challenging pregnancy, the couple welcomed Matteo in 2022. And while immersed in motherhood, she started to miss the track. “For a little while, I felt a bit selfish pursuing my goal,” says Low. “My husband and son had to make some sacrifices along the way because early motherhood looked very different for me, but I soon realised this is our shared dream.”

With her husband’s support and Matteo enjoying the sandpit during training, Low feels “more capable now than before”. “[I want Matteo] to be inspired by this journey of not necessarily pursuing sport, but pursuing something close to his heart and really giving it his all.” 

Brenden Hall, Paralympian.

Brenden Hall, 31, Swimming

It’s his fifth time at the Paralympic Games, but for swimmer Brenden Hall – who debuted in Beijing at 15 years old – the experience never loses its shine. “You still get that same fire and inner spark, that feeling that gives you goosebumps. That hasn’t changed at 

all and it reminds me every time why I’ve been doing this for so long,” he says. This time around, he’ll also be a Paralympic flag bearer alongside wheelchair racer, Madison de Rozario (who graced the cover of Body+Soul in June). “It took me about a week to come to terms with it,” he says. “I’m very honoured I was chosen to do it. [It means] a hell of a lot.”

Another change in 2024? Hall’s reckoning with failure. “I had a pretty successful run for a long time – I was world champion, world-record holder, Paralympic champion,” he says. On track for a three-peat in Tokyo in the 400m freestyle S9, he came fourth “by a fingernail”.

“At that point, I just felt like my world had kind of crumbled around me,” says the 31-year-old. For Hall – who was six when he lost his leg and most of his hearing due to complications from chickenpox – it took missing a medal to remember why he was doing it in the first place.

“One of the things I learnt to do when I woke up in the hospital [after losing his leg] was to just figure out how to get back in the water,” he says. “When I started the sport, I was having a hell of a lot of fun, and as I got further along I kind of forgot that aspect.” 

Becoming a dad to son Bodhi in 2021 was also a real perspective shifter. “It completely changes you and what’s really important in life,” says Hall. “My son’s going to be there to watch… I’m going to have a bit of fun – I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Lauren Parker, Paralympian.

Lauren Parker, 35, Triathlon

This time three years ago, Lauren Parker was in the final moments of her first Paralympic triathlon in Tokyo. She’d led for over an hour when, with a few metres left, USA’s Kendall Gretsch caught up for a thrilling sprint to the finish line. Parker took home silver by one devastating second. “I didn’t get what I wanted out of Tokyo,” says the 35-year-old. “I’m definitely stronger going into these Games, so that gives me confidence.” 

Despite its magnitude, treating the Paralympics like any other event is key to releasing the pressure. “Since Tokyo, I’ve won every single race – 15 in a row. Paris is just another one,” says Parker, who was training for the Ironman Australia Triathlon in 2017 when both tyres on her bicycle burst, catapulting her into a guard rail at high speed and leaving her with a punctured lung, crushed bones and paraplegia. 

Para sport became an escape, especially from the “horrific” nerve pain that still impacts 90 per cent of her body. “I need to adapt and focus on the positives rather than the negatives. That’s what gets me through, day to day.” While gold is the goal for Paris, it’s not Parker’s only metric of success. “It’s also a success if I’ve put everything I could into the race with nothing else left,” she says.

“Whatever result I get, if I’m inspiring other people then that’s success for me.”

Originally published as The making of Australia's brightest Paralympic stars