How Gundagai teen Indiana Cooper’s dedication has her on track for the Paralympics

Indiana Cooper is a talented 18-year-old sprinter - but her decision to do the seemingly impossible and qualify for the Paralympics in a sport she took up a year out from the Games hasn’t surprised anyone.

Indiana Cooper has been battling the odds since she entered the world prematurely at 24 weeks – so her decision to do the seemingly impossible and qualify for the Paralympics in a sport she took up a year out from the Games hasn’t surprised anyone.

Cooper, a talented sprinter, had dedicated eight years to athletics and was on track for a call up to the Paris Paralympics but her heart wasn’t in it anymore.

The 18-year-old decided it was time to try something new – a year out from the Games.

Cooper proved a natural at sprinting winning many state and national titles as a youth.

She represented Australia, aged 16, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games finishing 8th in the 100m Para-Sport T38 women’s final.

Cooper donned the green and gold again in August for the Youth Commonwealth Games – finishing second in the T38 100m sprint.

Despite her success Cooper said she had fallen out of love with the sport and was desperate to try something new.

Living in the small rural town of Gundagai, in NSW, Cooper said her options were limited.

Indiana Cooper spends almost two full days in travel time each week to and from her various training, gym and physio sessions. Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images

“I did swimming at a young age and it didn’t work, I couldn’t swim to save myself,” Cooper said.

“We tried rowing and that didn’t work, I tried cycling and it just stuck with me.”

Cooper was born prematurely, weighed just 780 grams and was given a 40 per cent chance of survival. She is visually impaired with very little peripheral vision and cerebral palsy which affects all four of limbs.

So cycling wasn’t an activity Cooper had done much of.

“It’s taken me three months to learn how to ride a bike, so that was very frustrating,” Cooper said.

“I’ve been going onto the velodrome though. I stacked it at training (last week) and injured my hip which isn’t the best but that is the sport – you are going to fall eventually.”

The injury has ruled Cooper out of the 2023 Australian Para-Track Cycling Championships to be held in Melbourne from December 14-16.

But Cooper doesn’t plan on letting that stop her achieving her goal of qualifying for the Paralympics.

She has several other chances to qualify for the Games including the RoadNats in Ballarat in January, Oceania Track Championships in New Zealand in February and the Oceania Road Championships in Brisbane in April.

Cooper’s dedication can’t be faulted.

The teen spends almost two full days in travel time each week to and from her various training, gym and physio sessions – none of which are in Gundagai.

Her coach and main cycling training sessions are in Canberra three times a week – two-and-a-half hours away.

Cooper at the Trinbago Commonwealth Youth Games in August. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images for Commonwealth Sport

“The Paralympics has been a dream of mine since I first started athletics,” Cooper said.

“I never pictured myself changing before the Paralympics but I’ve changed the year before the Games.

“It’s a big dream and not many people get the opportunity, some people train for 10 years before they get big opportunities where I’m training the year before and trying to get there.

“Whether I get there we will just have to wait and see, but if I don’t make it for Paris there is the 2028 Games.”

Growing up in Gundagai, a town with a population of 1600 people, Cooper didn’t have a chance to interact with many other children with a disability – until she found para-sport.

“I was the only young person with a physical disability,” Cooper said.

“It was very tough. When I was in year four one of the years said I should try and get classified. I didn’t even know what that was. My mum looked it up and got in contact with the right people and I got classified at the state comp in athletics and then in swimming.

“I went to my first big competition in Sydney, I was about 10, and I remember looking around and seeing so many para-sport people there. It was so great to see.”

Paralympics Australia is running its end of year appeal. Money donated goes towards helping athletes like Cooper get classified, find a coach and attend high performance camps.

To donate visit https://fundraise.paralympic.org.au/

Originally published as How Gundagai teen Indiana Cooper’s dedication has her on track for the Paralympics