2016 Rio Paralympics: Aussie chef de mission Kate McLoughlin delighted with top five finish

AUSTRALIA hit its target of a top-five finish in Rio – and team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin has predicted the ‘sky’s the limit’ for Tokyo in 2020.

Lakeisha Patterson and Maddison Elliott were two of the stars for Australia.

AUSTRALIA hit its target of a top-five finish in Rio – and team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin has warned rival nations to “watch out” as the four-year road to Tokyo 2020 begins.

The Aussies finished fifth overall with 81 medals – four down on the 85 of London four years ago – bolstered by the final-day gold in wheelchair rugby and co-captain Kurt Fearnley’s marathon silver in his Games farewell.

Their tally of 22 golds was well behind the shock 40 of the United States but four clear of nearest rival Germany. The Aussies’ ranking extended an unbroken run of top-five finishes that began at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

China dominated the Rio event with 107 golds – a rate of one in every five medal events – while Great Britain’s spike that began in London four years ago continued with 64 golds and a second-place finish.

Australia celebrate their wheelchair rugby success over the USA.

Swimming was again the most productive sport for the Aussies, with nine golds coming in the pool, led by three to 17-year-old debutante Maddison Elliott.

Exactly half of the 178-strong team that came to Rio were Paralympics first-timers – a figure McLoughlin said would only strengthen the Tokyo campaign.

“It fills me with pride,” McLoughlin said of the top-five finish.

“We’ve got quite a young team and we always believed that they could do it. And they’ve got so much more to give, particularly with Tokyo to come.

“We’ve maintained that record since 1992, I could not be more proud of them. It was very tough, a lot of countries have come a long way in Paralympic sport.

“The number of personal bests we’ve had at these Games, the number of debutants who’ve medalled, I’m bursting with pride.”

Of Australia’s 32 gold medals in London 2012, 13 were contributed by swimmers Jacqueline Freney and Matthew Cowdrey, both missing from this team through retirement.

In Rio, the Aussie cycling team also added three golds despite the distraction of multiple world champion Michael Gallagher’s positive test for blood booster EPO and resulting Games-eve expulsion.

Kate McLoughlin says the ‘success has been spread over so many sports.’

“The success has been spread over so many sports,” she said.

“In London we just relied so heavily on those two swimmers but this time we’ve managed to do it by spreading the love across all of those sports.

“Watch out in Tokyo because the sky’s the limit, particularly with the number of young athletes that had their first taste of Paralympic success in Rio.

“It can only go up from there.”

Originally published as 2016 Rio Paralympics: Aussie chef de mission Kate McLoughlin delighted with top five finish