Sydney celebrates Australian Olympians and Paralympians in style
Sydney schoolgirl Ruby Trew was a crowd favourite when some of our Olympians and Paralympians were treated to a heroes welcome.
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WITHIN two months, Ruby Trew has gone from unknown Sydney schoolgirl to hanging with Snoop Dogg and autographing babies.
And Jamieson Leeson has a silver medal around her neck, living up to a promise she made herself at 16 when her best friend passed away.
It is for these stories, and many more, that 2000 supporters gathered at Darling Harbour’s Tumbalong Park to celebrate the arrival of some of Australia’s Olympians and Paralympians on Friday.
As NSW Premier Chris Minns told the crowd, their efforts on the sporting stage reflected community, and endearing spirit.
For 15-year-old Trew, a clear fan favourite still carrying her skateboard around, the Paris Games experience will never be forgotten.
“I got a photo with Snoop Dogg which is pretty cool, I saw Simone Biles the gymnast run past me,” Trew said.
“It was so cool hanging with the Aussie people, being the youngest [Australian Olympic squad member] there was pretty cool.”
Among the hundreds of autograph seekers for Trew was a baby.
“It’s pretty amazing, I wasn’t expecting this many people to come, it’s pretty cool, everyone wanting my signature and they’re all my own age, I’m a schoolgirl as well so it’s pretty cool to relate to all of them,” she said.
“I was a little girl wanting peoples’ signatures that are sportspeople and now that’s me, and people want it and I can’t believe it, people love me like that, I’m so glad to be Australian.”
She returned to Narrabeen Sports High immediately after the Games with a new profile.
“Usually I go to school and people are like, ‘Oh you go to this school? They think I’m new because I’m never there, I’m always training. But when I came back they were like, ‘Oh that’s the Olympic girl’,” Trew said.
“But I’ve got my friends there, and the school is so supportive of me.
“After Paris I went straight back to school, I was there for a week and then I went down to Melbourne for a surf camp because I do surfing and skateboarding.
“I’ve just been chilling a bit, trying to take in the whole Olympics and seeing a few of my friends I missed at home.”
Trew hopes to compete in Japan and Brazil this year.
For Leeson, the Sydney reception had more people than her hometown of Dunedoo in central western NSW.
The silver medal in the individual boccia event at the Paralympics was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at just 18 months.
“I’ve always been determined to do well in whatever I did, bit for me, when I was 16, my best friend who had the same condition as me passed away,” Leeson said.
“That was a turning point for me, of make my life worthwhile, and finding boccia helped me do that.
“I have spinal muscular atrophy which is the number one genetic killer of infants under the age of two, to live to the age of 21 now, not many people with SMA are able to survive this long so I’m not only living for myself, I’m living for everyone who has passed away as well.”
Leeson, too, was overwhelmed by the local support.
“It’s amazing, we didn’t get any of this in Tokyo, so to have the love in Paris and now come home to this two days after getting home, it’s just incredible to feel the love and support of Australia,” said Leeson, who competed in a teams boccia event at the Tokyo Games but missed out on a medal.
“Growing up in regional NSW, you’re built to be resilient. I was the only disabled kid in my town, I was made to figure out ways to be included because I wasn’t always the first consideration of disability inclusion in a small country town.
“Unfortunately it was difficult for me to get into Para sport, but give it another 10 years, hopefully they won’t make it that way.”
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Originally published as Sydney celebrates Australian Olympians and Paralympians in style
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