Dylan Alcott secures second gold in two days with victory in the wheelchair tennis singles
SIXTEEN years ago, Dylan Alcott was bullied in school for being overweight and in a wheelchair. Now he’s a dual Paralympian tennis gold medallist. VIDEO.
DYLAN Alcott used to believe he was “a cripple”.
Believed it, because the bullies told him so.
And, as a schoolboy, what was there to argue? He was in a wheelchair. He was different. A minority.
Well, now, Alcott is an even smaller minority. The 25-year-old is a three-time Paralympic Games gold medallist, after backing up his epic wheelchair tennis doubles crown with good mate Heath Davidson to win the quad singles title at Rio’s Olympic Tennis Centre.
“It means everything to me,” Alcott said.
“I’ve won three gold medals and a silver medal across two different sports. I don’t know many people with a resume like that.”
His 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets victory over Great Britain’s Andy Lapthorne was Alcott’s second gold medal in less than 24 hours, following the previous night’s doubles success.
It adds to the wheelchair basketball gold he won with the Rollers in Beijing 2008.
The victory for the popular Melburnian capped a day of double gold in Rio for Australia, following the morning victory of road cyclist Carol Cooke.
The pair took Australia’s haul to 10 golds, and left the nation narrowly trailing host country Brazil in the fight for fifth spot on the overall medal tally.
It was another night without gold in the pool for the Aussies, and the Rollers suffered a shock quarter-final elimination at the hands of Great Britain.
Cyclist Cook sparked the day early by successfully defending her London gold in the women’s T2 time trial. The road riders also returned three silvers, through Alistair Donohoe, Kyle Bridgwood and Stuart Tripp.
Jono Milne became the first Australian to medal in archery since 1984, beating Norway’s Morten Johannesen 143-136 in the bronze medal match for his W2 class.
But the day belonged to Alcott, the world No. 1 quad wheelchair tennis player and multi-sport champion.
He revealed his elation at his world-beating triumph was a world away from where his 12-year-old self could have even dared to dream he would be.
“I was an insecure kid about my disability,” he said post-match. “A few kids used to call me a cripple, and I hate that word. I used to believe them.
“If you told me back then when I was 12 and not wanting to go to school that I’d be a triple Paralympic gold medallist across two sports, I would have said ‘get stuffed’.”
Alcott, winner of the past three Grand Slam quad tennis events, said the win closed the door on four years of anxiety leading up to the final.
“It’s just a feeling of relief to be honest, when you think about it every day,” he said.
“You go to bed thinking about it – what could happen? What happens if you lose? How the match is going to go.
“So, I’ll actually go to sleep a bit easier now.”
Originally published as Dylan Alcott secures second gold in two days with victory in the wheelchair tennis singles
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