2016 Rio Olympics: Australia’s most physically impaired athlete calls boccia his ‘genie in a bottle’

DAN Michel - the most physically impaired athlete on the Aussie team in Rio - is the perfect reason for the Paralympics to exist, for para-sport to be.

Dan Michel is realising a sporting dream.

DAN Michel is wearing his training shoes.

Grey Adidas sneakers, three green stripes down each side. Team Australia, standard issue.

And this, really, is all that matters.

Because although Michel can’t lace said boots himself, and will almost certainly never wear a lick of rubber off the bottom, that isn’t what defines this 21-year-old from southern Sydney.

Not even close.

No, what truly counts is what those wheels represent.

For right now, in a warm-up facility next to Rio’s Carioca 2 stadium, Michel is preparing to make his Paralympic Games debut for Australia.

“Yeah, pretty bloody good,” Michel grins.

“When I was a child, I knew that sport was something I wasn’t going to be able to participate in, so I just sort of ignored it.

“I guess I just bottled it up and shut that side of my life out. I love every sport, to be honest, so it was a really tough thing for me to deal with.

Dan Michel is realising a sporting dream.

“There was a lot of angst because I always wished sport – playing sport – was there for me. But no matter how much I wanted to have it, I just couldn’t.”

If ever there was a reason for the Paralympics to exist, for para-sport to be, it sits here on a motorised wheelchair parked behind a steep wooden ramp, analysing the line and speed required to blast two red balls out of the way with a single red one.

Michel is a boccia player, and the most physically impaired athlete on Australia’s 177-strong team.

He lives with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, severely restricting movement below his neck.

So cricket, Michel’s top passion, was never an option. Same deal football, and the dream of playing for his beloved Sydney Roosters.

“But Dad and I used to do these chip-and-chase games where he’d put the ball up and I’d charge through on my wheelchair,” Michel said.

“We’d try to get it to bounce up onto my lap. We got it down to a fine art, we were pretty handy at it.”

Instead, Michel lived his love for sport through younger brother Jesse. That is, until the day six years ago when he was introduced to boccia – an indoor game part bocce, part lawn bowls, part snooker.

“I never thought there would be a sport I could play at all, let alone at the highest level,” he said.

“If I had a wish from a genie in a bottle, that’s what I would’ve wished for.

“So boccia really is my genie in the bottle.”

Michel begins his pool-match series early Wednesday morning (EST).

Originally published as 2016 Rio Olympics: Australia’s most physically impaired athlete calls boccia his ‘genie in a bottle’