Dual Olympian Nova Peris inducted in Sport Australia Hall of Fame

Dual Olympian Nova Peris has revealed the emotions she went through when she found out she would be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Dual Olympian Nova Peris was overcome with emotion on learning she would be the first Territorian named in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Peris has long been one of the Territory’s most recognisable sporting names, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to win Olympic gold with the Hockeyroos team in 1996.

She then switched sports to running and won gold medals in the 200m and 4x100m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

It allowed her to live out her childhood dream of running at the Olympics in the 2000 Sydney Games, representing the country in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

But now 22 years on from her retirement from sport in 2001, she has been honoured with the most prestigious title in Australian sport, becoming a Hall of Fame inductee.

Such was her emotion, she had to hang up on Sport Australia Hall of Fame Chairman John Bertrand because of tears.

Nova Peris will be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Picture: Tim Carrafa

“I got to live out two of my dreams, one to go to the Olympics in hockey and then my childhood dream was to run at the Olympics, and I did that too,” Peris said.

“When he called me he told me ‘on behalf of the Australian Sports Hall of Fame, we congratulate you, we overwhelmingly support your induction and it’s about your sport and post career’.

“It’s phenomenal, I cried and I sort of said ‘this is a hopeless conversation, I think I have to go because I’m going to keep crying’.

“It’s not until you look back on it that you can go ‘oh, my god, that’s a remarkable achievement’, like that Hockeyroos team went into the Olympics being 38 games undefeated which is brilliant.”

Peris was named alongside former NRL champion Johnathan Thurston, with the pair becoming just the eighth and ninth Indigenous inductees.

Her legacy has inspired not only her own kids, who have made names in the sporting world for themselves, but Territory kids as a whole particularly in the world of hockey.

Nova Peris (right) with Tanyia Van- Heer, Sharon Cripps and Lauren Hewitt winning gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Picture: Anthony Weate

The actual event is on Monday following the Voice Referendum.

“If my sport has been an inspiration for kids my message is the fact we come from the Territory isn’t a deterrent,” Peris said.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t reach the highest of the high, this should be a beacon for every Territorian to say if Nova Peris can do it so can I.

“To be inducted with the calibre of people that I have is phenomenal, I’m really looking forward to the day, it’s going to be great because I’m going to be surrounded by family.”

Recently, Peris has been campaigning for the Yes campaign on the Voice referendum and said she was optimistic

“We’ve got 100s of volunteers on the ground and I’m optimistic,” she said.

“I believe in the Australian people and you just have to look at the amount of people who have given their profile, such as Darcy Moore, for this referendum.

“It’s one of the most important things this country will ever do in terms of recognition of First Nations people, and I hope when people vote they think about the future generations of this country.”