De Rozario hopes Australia’s Paralympians get their chance to shine

Australian Paralympic great Madison de Rozario can’t help but wonder what difference a capacity crowd would have made to the greatest moment of her career.

On a wet final day of competition at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, De Rozario won gold in the women’s T54 marathon by just one second, after 42.195 kilometres of a lung-busting action. But there was barely anyone in the stands to see it, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Fresh from a victory in the women’s wheelchair race at the London Marathon in April, De Rozario knows better than most the power of a big crowd.

Having watched the Matildas advance to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup in front of sold-out stadiums full of adoring fans, the four-time Paralympian is brimming with excitement at the prospect of spectators returning for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

“I have been in stadiums the Matildas have been in this week, and it has been electric,” De Rozario told this masthead at a Paralympics Australia and Australian Olympic Committee partnership announcement with Harvey Norman. “It’s not the same experience you get from a screen.

“It’s so exciting for us athletes to have crowds again. The impact that the Sydney 2000 Paralympics had, it’s because people were there and they watched and they saw.

Madison de Rozario (left) with Gerry Harvey and fellow Paralympians Katie Kelly and Chris Bond at a panel discission hosted by Nine.Credit: James Briwckwood

“To win an event on the last day of the Paralympics is like nothing else I have experienced. To switch your phone back on, see all the messages from back home ... and see the impact you had from those 42 kilometres was enormous. We had eyes on screens like never before.

“Knowing we have fans back in the stands in Paris and knowing there will be a lot of Europeans ... the impact that is going to have is going to be amazing. Full stands have an enormous impact. That’s where the real power is.”

Four-time Paralympian Madison de Rozario.Credit: James Brickwood

As the nation kicked its heels under lockdown in 2021, Australian audiences tuned into the Tokyo Paralympics in huge numbers and were captivated as athletes won medals and shared their stories.

De Rozario believes the Brisbane 2032 Paralympics could be a game-changer in the same way this year’s Women’s World Cup might be for women’s football.

“I think it’ll only take one more catalyst Games for Australia to do it … I think in 2032,” De Rozario said. “If we really nail that and we use the lead-in and the broadcast partners in Paris and Los Angeles to speak about the Paralympics in the way they deserve to be, as their own identity … I think that fight we’re having around language and perception could be over by 2032 if our partners nail it.

“The culture in Japan around disability is not great. There is a lot of work to be done with that. It breaks my heart a bit that there was such a successful Games there, with world records and close events and an unreal athletic performance, and it didn’t have spectators.”

De Rozario says she is likely to just compete in the marathon at Paris 2024 - set to be shown on Channel Nine, the publisher of this masthead - having also won medals in the 800m and 1500m distances.

After three attempts in 2008, 2012 and 2016, De Rozario finally picked up Paralympic gold medals in Tokyo.

Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page with Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus. Ms Page wants corporates and government to make investment in sport a priority.Credit: James Brickwood

“The fear around retiring without winning a gold medal has gone,” De Rozario said. “That was definitely a big part of my career for 17 years leading into Tokyo. It leaves space to do other things with your career.”

Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who has just returned from a successful world championships campaign in Fukuoka, says Australian sport is on a high.

“The runway from the cricket and the netball (world title) and then the swimming and then the Women’s World Cup ... I feel like sport is this drug that Australians are living off at the moment,” Titmus said.

Paralympics Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee have announced a new partnership deal with Harvey Norman for Paris 2024.

“It’s impactful,” De Rozario said. “We have our job as athletes out there and I think we spend so much of our time head down in our little bubble doing what we have to do in our day-to-day training. No one sees what we do on the world stage without the support of the partners that we have. They make such a difference in the journey we have.”

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