Australian swim sensation Alexa Leary steals show at Paralympics
Three years after she cheated death following a horrific bike accident, Alexa Leary has completely stolen the spotlight at the Paris Paralympics with a victory that was written in the stars.
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Remember the Paris pool that all the Olympic swimmers complained was too slow for anyone to break world records in?
Well, Australia’s Paralympic sensation Alexa Leary has just blown that myth right out of the water with one of the most inspiring victories — and wildest celebrations — ever seen in swimming.
Three years after she cheated death following a horrific bike accident, Leary has completely stolen the spotlight at the Paris Paralympics by winning her second gold medal, fulfilling a psychic’s prophecy that her family kept secret.
Following on from her earlier win in the mixed medley relay, Leary captured the individual 100m freestyle gold in devastating fashion, breaking her own world record in the heats then again in the final, stopping the clock at 59.53 seconds.
When she turned around and looked at the scoreboard to what she’d just done, she blurted out the F-bomb, then climbed out of the water as the crowd at the La Defense Arena went crazy watching her celebrate with an impromptu dance after the medal presentation.
“I’m amazed that I did it,” she said.
“I really just wanted to break the world record and I did. I broke it this morning, but tonight was my show and it was a great one.”
Already adored in Australia because of her uplifting tale of survival and zest for life, Leary has rocketed herself into international stardom as the princess of the Paris Paralympics.
Her swimming is spectacular enough but it’s her unbridled joy at competing and winning that is melting hearts around the planet and making her box-office gold.
“I’ve just come so far in life,” she said.
“Like being told three years ago that I wouldn’t live.
“But I am and once again I proved the world wrong because I’m walking and I’m talking when we were told that I would never.
“The fact that I am swimming so very well and I’m at the Paralympics, I am just like ‘well done Lex, you have honestly come so very far’.”
Aussies always love a battler and Leary’s courage under fire is one of the most uplifting sporting stories of 2024 because it was just three years ago that her mum and dad were facing every parents’ worst nightmare — told to say goodbye to their daughter when she was in a coma in hospital after a bike crash that saw her fracture her skull, scapula, ribs and leg and puncture a lung.
She sustained permanent brain and leg injuries but has retained a positive and optimistic attitude that is infectious to anyone who sees her.
The heavy pre-race favourite to win the blue-riband sprint, Leary did admit to feeling some anxiety before her races but reminded herself everything would be okay because it was written in the stars.
“I was so nervous. I honestly was frightened to go out there, but I had to just pull something in me and go ‘come on, Lex. Let’s get it’,” she said.
“I said ‘let’s be so determined and be passionate. If that’s what you want, you’ve got to go and get it’ and I did it.”
Leary’s injuries were so bad that she was comatosed and spent 111 days in hospital, undergoing a series of major surgeries. Eight times, her parents were told by doctors she wasn’t going to make it.
At one point, when she was in the intensive care unit, her father Russ went to a clairvoyant to try and find some answers and was told something extraordinary and completely unexpected.
“When I was in ICU, my dad got a fortune teller and the fortune teller read that I wanted to go to the Paralympics. And I’m here. Oh my God. I did it,” she said.
“I’m amazed in myself that I am. I’m like, ‘yeah Lex.’
“It just makes me want to go even harder and see what else I’ve got.”
Both Russ and his wife Belinda were in the stands in Paris to see their daughter’s success, battling tears as they celebrated her remarkable achievement, and the feelings were mutual.
“I wouldn’t be here without my mum and dad,” Leary said.
“When I was in the brain section, my dad stopped working, and my mum stopped. They were in the hospital with me for six months
“Dad was constantly at his knees in that hospital every single day next to my bed.
“Dad will be having lots of tissues in his eyes, wiping his little tears. He doesn’t stop crying. He makes me cry because I love it.”
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