Triple gold for Lismore athlete Nathan Parker

PILOT Officer Nathan Parker shone at the Invictus Games 2018 to take three gold and two silver medals.

DOUBLE GOLD: Lismore's RAAF Pilot Officer Nathan Parker showed immense courage in overcoming challenges resulting from an amputation to compete in the Invictus Games 2018. He was one of 72 Australian competitors. Picture: CPL Jake Sims

COURAGE.

Determination.

And a heck of a lot of resilience.

Lismore's Invictus Games representative Nathan Parker has shown he cannot be defined by his amputation.

And although Parker worked long and trained hard to come away with three gold medals and two silver during the Invictus Games, he's not allowing them to be the defining point of his career.

On Friday RAAF Pilot Officer Parker, 23, achieved his third gold medal when he won the Men's IT3 100m final, beating Joe Dillnitt (UK) by 1:1 seconds and Mike Kacer (USA) by 1.19 seconds.

It was a sweet victory as the day before Kacer took silver in the Men's IT3 200M final which pushed Parker into fourth place by .32 seconds.

Parker said he was inspired and motivated three-time Paralympic Gold Medallist Kurt Fearnley.

"I was lucky to talk to Kurt Fearnley when he came to Lismore and he said winning the Commonwealth Games marathon on home soil with his family there was amazing," he said.

"I can see where he was coming from because to represent Australia in front of all my loved ones, family and friends to get a gold, there's no better ending."

Last week Parker also took gold medals in the Mixed 4x100m Relay and the Indoor Rowing Men's IR3 Four Minute Endurance with a distance of 1157m.

Indoor rowing is a sport of endurance, power and speed made all the more challenging after Parker lost his left hand in a bus crash while returning from a RAAF training exercise in 2015.

Parker said he only took it up after being encouraged by rowing coach Corporal Tim Boland.

"Tim said 'it's only one minute, get on an have a crack,' so I did," he said.

"So to have him there and see me win gold was great."

Parker also won silver in the Men's IT3 400m and the Indoor Rowing Men's IR3 One Minute Sprint.

One month before the Invictus Games Parker qualified for his flight instructor's licence with the Northern Rivers Aero Club.

"Everything from here's bonus, who knows what next?" he said.