Courtesy: Swimming Australia
Australia’s top Para-swimmers are set to write a new chapter in the nation’s decorated history at the Paralympics after a 32-strong Team was confirmed to compete at the Tokyo Games in a little over two months.
The Team features 15 debutants along with some of the most successful swimmers in Australian Paralympic history, including six-time gold medallist and winner of 15 Paralympic medals Ellie Cole, seven-time medallist Matthew Levy, and Brenden Hall, who has won six Para-swimming medals including three gold so far.
Also among those named were Lakeisha Patterson, winner of six medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics including two gold, and Tiffany Thomas Kane, who won four medals in Rio including one gold.
Levy, 34, is the most senior member of the Team and will now prepare to compete at his fifth Paralympics, having started his Paralympic journey at Athens in 2004. The youngest member of the Team is 15-year-old Isabella Vincent, who qualified in front of her home crowd at the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide.
The Para-swimming Team for Tokyo was introduced by Australian Team Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin at the completion of the Trials on Wednesday night.
“What we know from previous Games is that swimming often sets the barometer for other sports in which we compete,” McLoughlin said.
“In Rio, our 36 swimmers brought home 29 medals, including nine gold, an inspiring outcome that formed the foundation of Australia’s top-five finish at the Games.
“This particular group has faced a lot of adversity in the past year or so. Yet, through their resilience and desire, and with exemplary support from Swimming Australia, they will head to Japan as ready as they could possibly be to compete at their best.”
Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Lynne Anderson said: “Any conversation about Australia’s incredibly proud history at the Paralympic Games will always include swimming.
“It’s one of our truly national sports and one in which generations of our Para-athletes have genuinely excelled.
“Since the first Paralympics, in Rome in 1960, Australian swimmers have won 420 medals, including 128 gold, 150 silver and 142 bronze. We sit fifth on the all-time gold medal tally in Para-swimming and third in total medals won, behind only Great Britain and the United States.
“It’s a remarkable record and when I look at the calibre of the swimmers we’ll have representing us in Tokyo, I have no doubt we’ll see a strong, cohesive and dedicated group of athletes giving everything they’ve got to make the nation proud, just as their predecessors did.”
To view the full team, click here.
To Grace, Alice and Justice!
What is clear is that those who are at fault and contempt of the law! Will do anything to make a distraction. I believe that Justice is simply wanting swimming to be at a true and honest competitors to be able to swim.
It isn’t a game. Regardless of been female or male. There is some explicit examples of cheating and bullying going on. It is true that a current s7 swimmer who was an s10 has gone all out like an academy performance. As we speak, the sport integrity office will be investigating. She was at the recent trials claiming a Pb when she had done this multiple times. The bullying of fellow… Read more »
Congratulations to swimming Australia for picking the best 32 Para-swimmers in Australia to represent the country at the upcoming 2021 Tokyo Paralympic games. It must be duly noted that all the swimmers selected are in their correct classification and that NO cheats or frauds were selected in the team. Furthermore, as a result, this team should do very well as they also left out the toxic and destructive members who have paralyzed the Australian team for the last 2 years. Eleven members are already celebrating that Blanshard, Corry, and Jones did not make the team. Several male swimmers have stated that both Corry and Jones were the catalyst for Australia’s poor performance at both the 2019 World Para-swimming Championships and… Read more »
Your issue with Taylor Corry is what exactly ‘justice’ ?
“Note, several USC Spartan and Canberra-based swimmers have stated they are glad that both Corry and Jones are not on the team due to the bullying and constant harassment caused by those individuals in the past’
Please provide supporting evidence. This is completely ridiculous and completely irresponsible and damaging reporting.
“Note, several USC Spartan and Canberra-based swimmers have stated they are glad that both Corry and Jones are not on the team due to the bullying and constant harassment caused by those individuals in the past.”
You need to back this up with facts. Which of the following swimmers did you talk with? Head coaches at both programmes are Yuriy Vdovychenko and Brendan Burkett. Let’s hear them back up your ridiculous claims regarding Corry.
Canberra swimmers
Jesse Aungles
Tim Disken
Ahmed Kelly
Jamie Lee Getson
USC Swimmers
Blake Cochrane
Braeden Jason
Katya Dedekind
Ruby Storm
Jacob Templeton
I am assuming that a) you understand the laws that support an individual… Read more »
What gives you the right to judge someone’s disability? You don’t know how they live or train, how a disability has progressed or worsened? People can do more than one sport… and be good at more than one thing. Obviously her identity doesn’t come from her swimming alone. She has more in her life.
All you are hearing are rumours and comments. And you are now spreading those rumours and comments.
Why not speak to Tahlia directly? I saw her post race interview, she has class and is a fantastic speaker, honest and genuine.
Instead of being bitter, have some integrity and why not complain to swimming Australia directly if it is such an issue for you? Take your… Read more »
Well done to Tahlia for doing 3 different sports, but can you please explain how someone who is able to do this can deteriorate to the degree that she has in swimming and NOT in Football or Dancing, where she is witnessed running and NOT requiring anyone to assist or hold her or using a false clinched clawed hand???
Can you please explain why Tahlia was seen walking with a slight limp and no wrist brace walking around Adelaide during the Adelaide trials???
Most importantly, can you please explain why Tahlia told lies to the media, the crowd in Adelaide, to the Australian public and on her Facebook page by stating the following “I am so grateful… Read more »
Someone (Swimming Australia and the IPC) seriously need to take action against you.
For a very long time you have been on the sidelines (in pools, in bushes, in secret) under your cyberbullying pseudo names. You, along with your friend from the UK – have launched the most despicable, abhorrent attacks against a number of swimmers with a disability. You specifically seem to, ignorantly, target swimmers with physical disabilities although direct challenges in your daughter’s classification are not exempt. You have spied on, stalked and harassed athletes consistently in their leisure time. You are on a constant vigil as displayed in your description of the S7 swimmer and her gait whilst in Adelaide. You need to be permanently banned… Read more »
It’s a bit weird that you are obsessing over an athlete that did not make the team?
Why are you so bitter? Did your child/you make the para team and are an S7 classified athlete and that’s why you are stalking fellow S7 athletes to find the competition? Looking to do a Tonya Harding against anyone that is a threat in the pool? Don’t like the thought of someone being nicer and faster?
And why not reach out to the athlete/s that you have issues with instead of hiding behind your keyboard and stalking their times and social media.
And perhaps it was a PB because of the change of how they are allowed to swim? I’m not… Read more »
Fair Dinkum are you referring to your USC Spartans teammates Blake Cochrane, Braeden Jason & Jacob Templeton???
And what a right old royal mess they made doing just that.
The official team included a swimmer who didn’t make the times at trials leaving multiple High Performance Training Centre swimmers who did, off. The IPC, allegedly, are in the process of sorting all them out by allocating more slots than Aus originally earned over the qualifying period. How does something like this work? If the IPC do allocate more slots to them has fair play at Tokyo been compromised before the Games even get underway?
These guys want to be treated the same as their Olympic peers – until they demand to be treated differently. Swimmers swam under qualifying times and didn’t make the Olympic team –… Read more »
Bitter much?
Nope. Just enjoy engaging in clean, fair sport. You should give it a go 😉
Fair Dinkum, can you be more specific??? Who was the swimmer who did not make the times at the trials??? And who were the swimmers who missed out and did make the times???
At least one swimmer selected to the team did not compete at trials at all. Australia has very, very low tolerance for COVID outbreaks, leading to snap lockdowns and border closures. At the time of the trials, the SA border was closed to people who had recently been in Victoria. Some Melbourne-based swimmers left the state before the border slammed shut. Some unfortunately didn’t.