Reigning Paralympic and world champions headline Coast’s incredible group competing in Tokyo
Everything you need to know to cheer on the Gold Coast’s Paralympians when the 2020 Games begin on Tuesday.
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If the Gold Coast was an Olympic nation it would have finished seventh on the Tokyo 2020 medal tally – an impressive feat, to be sure.
But now it’s our Paralympians’ turn to prove their wares on the world sporting stage and the Gold Coast has no shortage of incredibly talented athletes ready to go for gold in Tokyo this week.
A total of 10 athletes and nine support staff will fly the flag for Australia at the 2020 Paralympics, which officially opens on Tuesday.
Here’s everything you need to know to follow their Paralympic journeys over the next two weeks:
Note: All times in AEST
Susan Seipel (Tallai)
Sport: Canoe
Discipline: KL2, VL2
When to watch: September 2-4
Seipel became Australia’s first para-canoe medallist when she won bronze in the KL2 at Rio 2016. Now with her pet event, the Va’a canoe, added to the schedule, Seipel has twice as many chances to add to her medal tally in Tokyo.
AJ Jennings (Reedy Creek)
Sport: Canoe
Discipline: KL3
When to watch: September 2-4
Jennings moved from Victoria to the Gold Coast in 2015 in the pursuit of para-canoe glory and she found it a year later in Rio, winning silver in the KL3.
Jennings is a two-time KL3 world champion and another massive medal prospect for Australia in Tokyo.
Curtis McGrath (Burleigh Waters)
Sport: Canoe
Discipline: KL2, VL2
When to watch: September 2-4
An Australian Army combat engineer in Afghanistan in 2012, McGrath stepped on an improvised explosive device and lost his right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee.
Four years later in Rio, he was going head-to-head with six-time world champion Markus Swoboda and winning Australia’s first-ever gold medal in Para-canoe.
He would go on to carry the Australian flag at the Rio closing ceremony.
McGrath owns 10 world championship gold medals to go with his Rio success. He has two more opportunities to add to his tally in Tokyo.
Ella Sabljak (Carrara)
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
When to watch: August 25 – September 5
Sabljak helped the Queensland Comets to the 2014 Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League Championship and was named MVP the same year.
Sabljak and the Rollers missed out on qualifying for Rio 2016, but return to Paralympic action in Tokyo ready to make amends. The Rollers have three silvers and a bronze, but have never won Paralympic gold – could this be the year for Sabljak and co?
Shelley Cronau (Born Gold Coast, lives in WA)
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
When to watch: August 25 – September 5
The Nerang State High School graduate took up wheelchair basketball after watching the 2008 Games in Beijing. Three years later she made her Australian Gliders debut, helping the team qualify for London 2012 but was not selected to compete.
In 2014, Cronau was named Queensland Athlete with a Disability of the Year. She will make her Paralympics debut in Tokyo.
Matt McShane (Carrara)
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
When to watch: August 25 – September 5
McShane was part of the Australian team which finished sixth in Rio. Considered one of the best emerging 1.5-classified players in the world right now, the Griffith University graduate looms as one of the key members of the Tokyo team.
‘Macca’ and fellow wheelchair basketball Paralympian Ella Sabljak are engaged to be married in 2022.
Katie Kelly (Gold Coast)
Sport: Triathlon
Discipline: PTVI
When to watch: August 28
Kelly shot to Paralympic Games prominence in 2016 when, barely a year after being declared legally blind, she and sighted guide Michellie Jones crossed the line more than a minute ahead of second to win gold at Rio. It led to Kelly being named a finalist in the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year category.
Kelly is also the founder and director of Sport Access Foundation, which provides financial support to young Australians with a disability.
Thomas Gallagher (Currumbin)
Sport: Swimming - S9 / S10
Discipline: 400m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle
When to watch: 400m: Aug 25, 10am; 50m: Aug 29, 10.46am; 100m: Aug 28, 10.14am
Gallagher moved to the Gold Coast from Perth in 2019 to continue his surf life saving career, but it’s in the pool that he’s set to make waves in Tokyo.
At the 2021 Australian Multi-Class Swimming Championships, the Somerset Swim Club and Currumbin Beach Vikings SLSC athlete announced himself by besting reigning Paralympic champion Brenden Hall to win the 400m freestyle.
Gallagher will compete in three events in Tokyo.
Madeleine McTernan (Arundel)
Sport: Swimming - S14
Discipline: 100m backstroke, mixed 4x100m freestyle relay
When to watch: 100m backstroke: Sep 2, 11.08am; 4x100m freestyle relay: Aug 31, 12.08pm
The St Hilda’s Swim Club member produced a stunning meet at the Australian Swimming and Age Championships in April, taking home eight gold medals and earning her place on the team heading to Tokyo.
McTernan has previously represented Australia at the 2019 INA Global Games, winning two relay gold medals.
Nic Beveridge (Born Gold Coast, lives in NSW)
Sport: Triathlon
Discipline: PTWC
When to watch: August 29, 7.30am – 12.10pm
A prominent cross country runner, swimmer and hockey player as a teenager, Beveridge woke one morning in 2003 to discover he was paralysed from the waist down and was later diagnosed with transverse myelitis.
Nine years later, Beveridge was watching the 2012 Paralympics from a hospital bed when he decided to pursue paratriathlon.
Four years later he finished ninth in the Men’s PT1 event in Rio and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Beveridge won silver.
Support Staff
Lincoln Handley (Rowing coach) - Pottsville Beach
Desmond Davis (Athletics coach) – Beaudesert
Shaun Caven (Canoe coach) – Mermaid Waters
Adam Pine (Swimming team leader) – Emerald Lakes
Benjamin Hartmann (Taekwondo manager) – Merrimac
Dan Atkins (Triathlon coach) – Reedy Creek
Kate O’Connell (Canoe Physio) – Mudgeeraba
Simon Pearson (Swimming Biomechanics) – Robina
Thea Dillon (Swimming massage therapist) – Robina
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