Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

2008 Summer Paralympics

The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao....

in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. The country sent 121 officials and 170 athletes in 13 sports to Beijing. It was the country's largest ever Paralympic delegation. The delegation's chef de mission was Darren Peters.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Women's long jump (F42)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Men's Marathon (T54)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's individual pursuit (CP 4)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's individual pursuit (LC 1)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's individual pursuit (B&VI 1-3)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Men's 100 m butterfly (S8)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Men's 100 m freestyle (S9)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Men's 5000m (T54)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Men's 800m (T54)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Women's 1 km time trial (B&VI 1-3)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Men's 100 m butterfly (S9)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Women's 100 m butterfly (S9)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's 1 km time trial (B&VI)
		Athletics	4 x 100m Relay (T53 & T54)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Men's shot put (F44)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Women's discus throw - F35/36
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Men's 1500m (T54)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Women's 1 km time trial (B&VI 1-3)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's individual pursuit (B&VI 1-3)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's 1 km time trial (LC 3-4)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Women's 100 m butterfly (S9)
		Athletics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in Beijing National Stadium from September 8 to September 17. There were 160 gold medals in this sport.-Classification:Athletes are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability...	Women's javelin throw (F42-46)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's 1 km time trial (B&VI)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Women's 500 m time trial (LC3-4/CP 3)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Women's 100 m freestyle (S8)
		Swimming Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed.-Classifications:...	Men's 100 m freestyle (S8)
		Equestrian Equestrian at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Equestrian at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of eleven dressage events. The competitions were held in the Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Centre from 7 September to 11 September.-Classfication:...	Individual championship test (Grade IV)
		Cycling Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of 44 events in two main disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling was held in Laoshan Velodrome from September 7 to September 10, and road cycling took place at the Changping Triathlon Venue from September 12 to September...	Men's 1 km time trial (CP 4)

Athletics

Representing Australia in athletics were be:

Men

Damien Bowen, Matthew Cameron, Aaron Chatman

Aaron Chatman

Aaron Chatman is a Paralympic athlete from Australia competing in class F/T46 High jump, Long jump and 100m. He competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China...

, Richard Colman

Richard Colman

Richard Colman is a Paralympic athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T53 sprint events.-Paralympics:He competed in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, where he won a gold medal in the men's 800 metres – T53 event, a silver medal in the men's 4 x 100 metre relay – T53-54...

, Roy Daniell, Rodney Farr, Kurt Fearnley

Kurt Fearnley

Kurt Fearnley OAM is an Australian wheelchair racer, who competes at the Olympic level. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he finished 5th in the demonstration sport of Men's 1500m wheelchair...

, Heath Francis

Heath Francis

Heath Francis is an Australian athlete who has participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics. At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics he became the first arm amputee athlete to win the sprint treble at a Paralympics, a feat he accomplished 2 years earlier at the 2006 IPC World...

, Gerrard Gosens, Greg Hibberd, Hamish McDonald

Hamish McDonald

Hamish McDonald is a print journalist and author of a series of polemic political commentaries on various Asia-Pacific subjects. He is currently based in Beijing as correspondent for The Age-Career:...

, Wade McMahon, Christopher Mullins

Christopher Mullins

Christopher Mullins is a Paralympic athletics competitor from Australia. He won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games in the Men's 4x100 m T35-38 event.-References:...

, Richard Nicholson

Richard Nicholson

Richard Nicholson is a Paralympic competitor from Australia. He competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, the 2000 Summer Paralympics, 2004 Summer Paralympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics. At the 2000 Games, he won a silver medal in the powerlifting Men's Up To 60 kg event...

, Evan O'Hanlon

Evan O'Hanlon

Evan O'Hanlon is a triple gold medal winning Paralympic athlete from Australia, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. , he is ranked first in the world.-Personal:...

, Paul Raison

Paul Raison

Paul Raison is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category F44 shot putt events.He competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China...

, Michael Roeger, Brad Scott

Brad Scott (Paralympian)

Brad Scott is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T37 middle distance events.He competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China...

, Russell Short

Russell Short

Russell Short is a Paralympic athletics competitor from Victoria, Australia. He won a pair of world gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games, setting a world in the men's discus throw F12 event and a Paralympic Games record in the men's shot put F12 even....

, Ian Speed, Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan (athlete)

Timothy Sullivan is an Australian athlete who has won ten gold medals at the Paralympic Games. This includes four gold medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, in the T38 100m, 200m and 400m events, and as a member of the men’s 4x100m Relay team, and five gold medals at the 2000 Summer...

, Darren Thrupp

Darren Thrupp

Darren Thrupp is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T37 sprint events. Thrupp has competed in five paralmpics winning at least one gold medal at each. His first medals at the Games were in 1992 when he won a gold medal in the C7-8 long jump, he followed this up in...

, Stephen Wilson, and Brendan Hall.
Women

Angela Ballard, Carlee Beattie, Jennifer Bryce, Gemma Buchholz, Kelly Cartwright, Christie Dawes

Christie Dawes

Christie Dawes is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete.-Personal:When she was young, Christie was very interested in athletics. At the age of 10, she was in a car accident. She survived, but had suffered paraplegia...

, Madison De Rozario

Madison de Rozario

Madison de Rozario is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T53-54 4 x 100 metres relay events....

, Louise Ellery

Louise Ellery

Louise Ellery is an Australian Paralympic athlete, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and world record holder in F32 Shot put for elite athletes with a disability. She suffered a Traumatic brain injury following a car crash in 1998. She competes in the F32 class...

, Amanda Fraser, Jessica Gallagher

Jessica Gallagher

Jessica Gallagher is a Paralympic alpine skier from Geelong, Victoria. She was Australia's second female winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics....

, Courtney Harbeck, Madeline Hogan, Kirrilee McPherson, Elizabeth McIntosh, Brydee Moore, Jemima Moore

Jemima Moore

Jemima Moore is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T53-54 4 x 100 metres relay events.She competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. There she won a silver medal in the women's T53-54 4 x 100 metres relay event...

, Kathryn Parrish, Katherine Proudfoot, Tahlia Rotumah, Charlotte Saville, Julie Smith

Julie Smith (athlete)

Julie Smith is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in category T46 sprint events.She competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. There she won a bronze medal in the women's 200 metres - T46 event and finished fourth in the women's 100 metres - T46 event-External...

, Noni Thompson, Jodi Willis-Roberts

Jodi Willis-Roberts

Jodi Willis-Roberts is a Paralympian athlete from Australia competing mainly in shot putt and discus throw events.She first competed in the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, United States where she won a silver medal in the F10-11 shot putt and also competed in the F10-11 discus throw...

, and Christine Wolf

Christine Wolf

Christine Wolf is a Paralympian athlete born in Germany but now competes for Australia competing mainly in category T42 long jump events....

.

Jodi Willis-Roberts, Russell Short, and Darren Thrupp will all be competing at the Paralympics for the sixth time. Evan O'Hanlon is described by The Age

The Age

The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

as the gold medal favourite for the 100m and 200m sprints in the men's cerebral palsy events. Sprinter Christopher Mullins developed chicken pox while training in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and was forced to remain behind as his teammates continued on to Beijing. His condition is currently being monitored, with the hope that he will recover before his events are to begin.

Cycling

Included on the Australian cycling is Michael Milton

Michael Milton

Michael John Milton, OAM is an Australian Winter Paralympic skier and cyclist. He lost a leg to bone cancer when he was nine years old...

, a four-time gold medalist as a skier in the Winter Paralympics. Mark Le Flohic

Mark le Flohic

Mark le Flohic is a Paralympic cyclist from Queensland, Australia. He won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games in the Mixed Bicycle Time Trial CP Div 4 event and a bronze medal in the Mixed Tricycle 1.9 km Time Trial CP Div 2 event.-References:...

, gold medalist at the 2000

2000 Summer Paralympics

The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000...

 and 2004 Summer Paralympics

2004 Summer Paralympics

The 2004 Summer Paralympics were held in Athens, Greece, from September 17 to September 28. The twelfth Paralympic Games, an estimated 4,000 athletes took part in the Athens programme, with ages ranging from 11 to 66. Paralympic events had already taken place during the 2004 Summer Olympics as...

, was to take part in the Beijing games but had to pull out due to injury. Le Flohic broke his collar bone during training one week before the games were to begin.

Sailing

Australians will compete in the following events in sailing:

• Single-Person Keelboat - 2.4mR
• Two-Person Keelboat - SKUD18
  SKUD 18
  The SKUD 18 is a class of racing sailing boat. It is a lead-assisted skiff with a tube-launched asymmetrical and a modern high performance stayed rig...
  
  
• Three-Person Keelboat - Sonar

Media coverage

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

provided television coverage of the games.

External links

• Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Official Site
• International Paralympic Committee
• "Remarks at the announcement of the Australian 2008 Paralympics Team", official website of the Prime Minister of Australia, July 29, 2008
• "Top 10 Aussies to watch", Daily Telegraph, September 4, 2008