BIG SWIMMING TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR BEIJING PARALYMPIC GAMES

24 Apr 2008

The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) today announced the largest Australian Swim Team ever to compete at a Paralympic Games overseas, as the countdown the 2008 Beijing Paralympics continues.

Greg Hartung, President of the Australian Paralympic Committee, made the announcement this morning at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, naming 35 athletes to take on the world in the Chinese Capital in September.

It will be the second biggest Australian Paralympic Swim Team in history, second only to the Sydney back in 2000, which consisted of 51 athletes.

Of the 35 swimmers Mr Hartung named today, 18 will make their maiden Paralympic appearance while three swimmers – Ben Austin, Daniel Bell, and Marayke Jonkers - will compete at their third Games.

“Australians have high expectations of their Paralympic athletes,” said Mr Hartung. “The competition will be fierce, especially from China, Great Britain, a swag of European countries and the USA. However, I am confident that the 2008 Australian Paralympic Team will continue Australia’s proud tradition of achievement. I congratulate all those athletes named today.”

Brendan Keogh was named as the Head Coach of the Australian Paralympic Swim team.

“It’s an extremely young but experienced team. The average age is a lot younger than it was in Athens in 2004, but even though they are young, half the team has been to the Paralympics before,” Keogh said.

“There are also some exciting young rookies in the team, so the coaching and support staff are looking forward to seeing what every athlete can do.”

APC Director of Sport, Jason Hellwig, said that the integration of the Swimming Paralympic Preparation Program within Swimming Australia is bearing fruit: “Today’s naming of our largest ever team of swimmers for an away Games is evidence of the growing standard of the Paralympic swimming program. It reinforces the impact of the seven world records set at the recent national trials by these athletes.”

The 35 athletes to be named today to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, will form the largest Australian swim team to compete at a Paralympic Games overseas.

It is our second biggest swim team ever, behind the 51 athletes that competed at the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000.

Compared to the 35 that will compete in Beijing, that number will be 9 more than we had in Barcelona in 1992, 5 more than in Atlanta 1996 and 6 more than we had in Athens in 2004.

Since the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, Australia have won a staggering 891 medals across all sports - 299 gold, 311 silver and 281 bronze.

Our swimmers have been a massive part of this success, winning a total of 322 medals – 91 of which have been gold (130 silver, 111 bronze)

Our best performance was in Sydney 2000, when our swimmers won 50 medals in total - 14 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze.

In Athens, the Australian Paralympic Team won 101 medals in total including 26 gold. Our swimmers won 35 of those medals – six gold, 14 silver and 15 bronze.

Swimmer Kingsley Bugarin remains Australia’s biggest medal winner in Paralympic history with 19 medals (5 gold, 8 Silver & 6 Bronze)
Another Swimmer - Priya Cooper shares the honour of being Australia’s most successful gold medallist with 9 gold, alongside track and field stars Louise Sauvage and Tim Sullivan

In 2008

18 swimmers will be making their first appearance at Paralympic Games.
14 will return to the Paralympic arena after featuring in Athens four years ago.
Three athletes - Ben Austin, Daniel Bell, Marayke Jonkers – will attend their third Paralympic Games after competing in both Athens in Sydney.

BEN – 2 golds, 5 silver and 2 bronze over two Games.

DANIEL – 1 gold and 2 silvers in Athens – No medals in Sydney

MARAKYE – 2 bronze in Athens – No medals in Sydney

According to IPC’s current records, this Australian squad also boasts eight current world-record holders.