Madison de Rozario claims marathon silver amid heartbreak of father’s death
Madison de Rozario raced with grit and a secret – claiming a silver medal in the T54 marathon before revealing her father died on the night of the Paris Paralympics opening ceremony.
Madison de Rozario raced with grit and a secret. She claimed a gallant silver medal in the T54 marathon before revealing her father died on the night she carried the Australian flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympics.
“When you first get news like that, you know the option is there to go home,” she said.
“It feels like the correct thing to do. I’ve got two sisters in Australia at the moment and it feels correct to go home and be with family in that regard. I feel so lucky that as I was having that thought, the first thing my family said to me was ‘Don’t come home’. It was a very clear instruction of ‘Get this done and it will wait’. That takes a lot of pressure off making what you feel is the correct and moral decision.”
De Rozario’s silver behind Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner came via a whirlwind tour of the city. The marathon course had her circling the grumpy old Stade de France, pirouetting at Arc de Triomphe, zooming down the Champs-Elysee and then screeching to a halt on the Esplanade des Invalides, just a few metres from the pristine front garden of the Musee de l’Armee.
Grit and a secret. De Rozario learned of the passing of her father, Roy, the morning after she carried the flag down the Champs-Elysee on the Games’ opening night.
“The next part of my question was, ‘Do I want to be so far apart from my family while everyone is trying to process something like that?’ ” she said.
“It turns out, if I’m not going to be in Australia with my family, I’d rather be in a Paralympic village with 160 of my best friends. For a bunch of people who had no idea about the week I was having, it was 100 per cent who I’d want to be around.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything different or better from anyone. Had I told them, they would have turned up as the exact same people, regardless. They’re so wonderful. To be surrounded by so many people who share such similar values, who are such good people, we’re all here trying to do the right thing as athletes – but there’s this underlying current of desire to just be good people.
“I think our Paralympic team is full of good athletes and really great people.”
One of the few people to know of de Rozario’s loss was her coach and ex-Paralympic champion Louise Sauvage.
“If I couldn’t be surrounded by my sisters and my Mum, I’m glad it was the Australian Paralympic team,” de Rozario said. “I didn’t know at the opening ceremony. My Mum did. My family’s so bad at keeping secrets. You know something’s up. Mum called me the next morning to let me know.
“You never expect it. You plan for what could possibly go wrong at the Games. You do plan for catastrophic things, worst-case scenarios, and to actually experience it is tricky. It really hit when the stress of racing started. Louise had front row seats to this.”
De Rozario added: “Lou and I always hug before every race. Before the 5000m, I just burst into tears on Louise. My poor mechanic was, ‘Stop bawling! Why are you stressed about the 5000? It’s just a heat! Why are you so worried about this?’
“The team psych told me ‘It’s the first time I’m going to tell you this – now is the time to compartmentalise’. She said we’re not holding on to it. Right now, in this very unique set of circumstances, it’s OK to do this. We have a job to do here. It’s OK to put everything aside and do this.”
De Rozario finished her Games with a silver and bronze. Asked about her relationship with her father, she said: “I think I’m like a lot of young women, where we have a complicated relationships with our Dad,” she said.
“The person I am, I do credit a lot to him. We grew up as a very close family. We were home-schooled for a couple of years and he’s the one that home-schooled us. Growing up, he was incredibly influential.
“As you grow up, you start to realise which parts of you are your parents, both good and bad things.
“As a teenager and young adult, you kind of find the bad things that remind you of your Dad and yourself. You resent them a bit.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’m starting to really appreciate some of the parts I’m really proud of, the parts that make me the person and athlete I am, are an enormous credit to him.”
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