How gold became a little routine for Australia’s Lauren Parker

The morning routine has ­become croissants, coffee, muffins and more coffee, and then watching Lauren Parker chase her next Paralympic medal.

Lauren Parker of Team Australia in the H1-4 road race. Picture: Getty Images

The morning routine has ­become the devouring of croissants, coffee, muffins, more coffee, fruit, cereal, another coffee, perhaps a chocolate doughnut and then venturing to wherever the unbreakable Lauren Parker is chasing her next Paralympic medal.

Her triathlon and cycling events have been breakfast-time rather than prime-time TV in Paris. It’s worth the early start to a working day when you’re ­witnessing an athlete of this magnitude.

The schedule went askew when torrential rain hit Clichy-sous-Bois and put her H1-4 road cycling race on hold for an hour – but it was merely delaying the inevitable. Another gold medal.

Give her the Australian flag for the closing ceremony.

She received a massive pre-race boost when American Kate Brim ­withdrew.

It was Brim who beat Parker to gold in the individual time trial, and Brim likely to be her toughest foe here. Without Brim, the race was Parker’s for the taking, and she polished it off quicker than a morning cuppa to complete her Games with two golds and a silver.

Parker was an elite triathlete before being paralysed from the waist down in a bike crash in 2017.

“During my late teens and early 20s I was really struggling emotionally,” she said.

“I was dealing with self-harm and body image issues. For the past 16 years I’ve been in constant battle with eating disorders. Having sport in my life was, and is, my outlet.

“I have come through the other side and want to bring hope to any female out there that is suffering the same, to stay strong and believe that you are worthy. Healing is a matter of time.”

Her time in the road race was 52min04sec. Too swift for daylight, which came second, then Dutchwoman Jennette Jansen and Germany’s Annika Zeyen-Giles, who both clocked a 56.15. 

All a triumph for Parker when you consider where the 35-year-old has come from. Feelings of absolute hope­lessness.

“I believed my life was over,” she said of the aftermath to her accident. “I think back to that first night in hospital when family and friends had gone home and I’d just been told I’d never walk again. It was one of the worst nights of my life.

“I felt trapped and I couldn’t escape or literally move. I was told by the doctor that not being able to walk was the easy part.

“The hardest part was living with a spinal cord injury and dealing with the things associated with that, which not many people know about.

“He was right. But anything is possible if you believe.”