Elite athlete Dylan Alcott OAM has had spectacular success, winning gold medals for both wheelchair tennis and basketball. He has also won the French and US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open grand slam titles in both quad singles and doubles.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics is his fourth representing Australia.

Alcott's paraplegia was the result of an operation to remove a tumour wrapped around his spine when he was a baby. 

This skilfully edited clip from Nine News’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympics on Nine News Melbourne, broadcast on 15 September 2016, is a great example of how much adrenaline and emotion can be packed into a short 30-second segment. In order to invest in Alcott’s win it’s essential to show some of the match, and here we see two points played, including the match point.

Alcott’s charisma is evident here and it’s easy to see why he has also had success in media and as a motivational speaker, in addition to his sporting prowess.

The shot of him kissing his medal for the camera and speaking with emotion after his latest win is exactly what fans love to see. These moments exemplify why he’s a great sporting role model.

In an interview on Kurt Fearnley's One Plus One in 2021 Alcott says:

I think the reason that I’m so proud of the Paralympics and being a Paralympian is that I am genuinely 100% really proud to have a disability, first and foremost. You know, I love having my disability … I call the Olympic Games the crappy warm-up event for the big show, which is the Paralympic Games, and I mean that...

The reason I wanna win all the grand slams and the reason I want profile is not to say, ‘Hey Dylan, great job’. It’s to have influence in my community. That’s why I do what I do … We are there to provide better opportunities for the billions of people with a disability around the world to get out and live the life that they want to live.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Kurt Fearnley AO is one of Australia’s most recognised and successful athletes.

Fearnley won an impressive 13 medals across 5 Paralympics wheelchair racing events from Sydney 2000 to Rio 2016 – 3 of them gold.

He was born with sacral agenesis which means he is missing parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. A keen sportsperson from a young age, he took up wheelchair racing at age 14. He competed in the T54 classification in a variety of events including 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, marathon and the 4 x 100 m relay.

Fearnley famously crawled the Kokoda Track in 2009 in support of the Movember and Beyond Blue charities. He completed the 96 km journey in 10 days.

In 2018 Fearnley received the Don Award – named after Sir Donald Bradman – which recognises sporting achievement that has inspired the people of Australia. He was the first person with a disability to receive the award.

This clip is typical of an end-of-bulletin sport’s round-up, clocking in at under 30 seconds. But what it lacks in length and detail, it makes up for by packing in multiple gold medal wins at the Beijing 2008 Games, delivering the adrenaline boost viewers have come to associate with Olympic and Paralympic sports coverage.

In addition to Fearnley’s heroic win in the marathon, we see a triumphant Troy Sachs and the men’s basketball team The Rollers winning gold against Canada. You can learn more about Sachs in this profile from Australian Dreams in 1999.

Para-athlete Tim Sullivan is hailed in this clip as Australia’s greatest ever Paralympian – winning his tenth career gold. You can learn more about Sullivan’s impressive career in this clip. Sullivan’s spectacular medal haul was beaten by swimmer Matt Cowdrey at the London 2012 Games.

Excerpt from Seven News Adelaide, 17 September 2008.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Ryley Batt OAM is one of the greatest wheelchair rugby players the world has ever seen. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics will be his fifth Paralympic Games.

To date he’s won 3 Paralympic medals, 2 of them gold.

Batt is the co-captain of the Tokyo 2020 Australian Paralympic Team, alongside seasoned para-table tennis star Danni Di Toro.

Batt’s physical impairment is a congenital double hand and leg limb deficiency. Until the age of 12 he avoided using a wheelchair but a fortuitous meeting with two-time Paralympian wheelchair rugby champion Brad Dubberley led to him taking up the sport.

Just 3 years later he was representing Australia at the Athens 2004 Paralympics as the youngest ever wheelchair rugby player.

As is obvious from this interview on Weekend Sunrise, broadcast on 20 February 2016 in the lead-up to the Rio 2016 Paralympics (for which Seven had exclusive broadcast rights), he is a terrific role model for his sport.

Batt looks comfortable in his role as a spokesperson for the Weekend Sunrise Parathon fundraiser in this engaging and jovial interview with hosts Andrew O’Keefe and Angela Cox. Batt makes the compelling point that if people watch the sport they’ll ‘be blown away by the abilities these guys have, not the disabilities’.

This excerpt makes excellent use of footage featuring Batt from various Paralympic wins including Beijing 2008 and London 2012. The most memorable vision is of the team embracing after a winning goal.

The footage the production had access to must have been limited because they repeat some of the footage while Batt is speaking. We also see Batt embrace his coach – none other than the man who started it all for him, Brad Dubberley.

There is stunning vision in a split screen of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics while Batt is speaking. Just to prove the show is recorded live there’s a small glitch where their stock vision plays a few frames of a weightlifter before it shifts back to just Batt on screen. At another point, O'Keefe accidentally talks over Batt, unaware he hasn't finished speaking!

Notes by Beth Taylor

Dan Michel is an up-and-coming Australian boccia champion. He is competing in his second Paralympics at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

His physical impairment is called spinal muscular atrophy type 2 – a congenital condition.

Boccia has been a Paralympic sport since the Stoke Mandeville/New York 1984 Paralympic Games. It is played by athletes with a significant physical impairment affecting all 4 limbs.

His ramp assistant Ashlee McClure says ‘people should look up to him. His determination to get where he is today … I look up to him every day – it makes me be a better person.’ This sentiment is underlined by vision of young kids being inspired to join the sport as Michel was.

In an interview Michel says, ‘Jump in there if you really love something and pursue it the best you can. You can really go places.'

Matt Carmichael reports this story from Nightly News 7 Tasmania, 24 August 2019. It refers to the Tokyo Paralympics being one year away – without knowing they would be delayed by a year to August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes by Beth Taylor

There is a palpable sense of excitement in ABC newsreader Angela Pearman’s opening remarks on the success of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This story had top billing on ABC News Sydney on 29 October 2000. Its placement as lead story speaks volumes about the pride Australians felt in our Paralympic athletes.

Reporter Paul Lockyer mentions the positive changes in community attitudes that will flow from the enormous support for the Paralympics. This was indeed the case, and the 2000 Games is today talked about as a watershed moment in the history of the Paralympics.

Athlete Heath Francis OAM says, ‘it was the most important Games for the Paralympic movement since the first Paralympic Games in 1960’. Indeed, it was only after Sydney’s sell-out success that it became mandatory for an Olympic host city to host both Games.

The story illustrates how Paralympic athletes particularly captured the hearts of schoolchildren. Schools attended on government subsidised excursions after being involved in a pen pal program with athletes established by organisers – contributing to a dedicated generation of fans.

Indeed, in his wrap-up of the Sydney 2000 Paralympics closing ceremony, Sydney Morning Herald reporter Anthony Dennis wrote, 'If the Olympics elevated the spirits, it was the Paralympics that touched the soul'.

Looking back on the Games 20 years later, athlete Tim Matthews OAM says the crowds ‘might have been going with good intentions – "I need to support our poor disabled athletes". They came back because it was really good sport. We don't want to be cheered just because we're there. A pat on the head because we're alive and that's the main thing. We want our performances recognised.’

Footage of wheelchair racing and swimming is used effectively in this clip to build atmosphere and a sense of the awesome achievements of the athletes.

Sydney 2000 Paralympics Queen of Pool Siobhan Paton, who won a staggering 6 gold medals, also appears in the story. Slow-motion footage of one of her wins is paired beautifully with a short grab of her talking about the contributions of people with intellectual disabilities in society.

Almighty athlete Louise Sauvage – one of Australia’s most famous athletes of all time – also features, talking about how high Sydney has set the bar for Athens who will go on to host the 2004 Paralympics.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Swimmer Matt Cowdrey OAM holds the record for the most medals won by an Australian Paralympic athlete with 23 medals in total, 13 of them gold. He competed at 3 Paralympic Games – Athens 2004, Bejing 2008 and London 2012. He went on to become a politician and won the South Australian State seat of Colton in 2018.

Cowdrey competed in the S9 classification of the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and medley swimming events. He was born with part of his arm missing due to a congenital amputation.

This brief segment from the London 2012 Paralympics is a successful example of the tried and tested TV news formula for Olympic coverage of Australian medal wins.

In addition to celebrating Cowdrey’s win the segment also tells the good news story of 13-year-old swimmer Maddison Elliott, who has cerebral palsy, becoming Australia’s youngest Paralympic medallist when she won bronze medals in the women’s 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events.

She later bettered this by becoming the youngest Aussie gold medallist as a member of the women’s 4 x 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. She also won 3 gold and 2 silver medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.  

The story has all the typical ingredients of an Olympics or Paralympics news story: the thrilling last moments of the events, post-victory celebrations (this time it’s a hug between Ellie Cole and Matt Cowdrey), shots from a medal ceremony and interviews with the jubilant athletes.

It’s a shame that we don’t get a close-up of Cowdrey’s win, or see Maddison Elliott in competition, but the clip still conveys their excitement and the crowd's atmosphere.

Cowdrey was named Australian Paralympian of the Year in 2008. Other winners of the award include Louise Sauvage (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998), Priya Cooper (1995), Michael Milton (2002), Siobhan Paton (2000), Tim Sullivan (2004), Jacqueline Freney (2012) and Dylan Alcott (2016).

Excerpt from Nine News Melbourne, 1 September 2012.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This round-up of the final day of the Sydney 2000 Paralympics from New 10 Perth News, broadcast on 29 October 2000, highlights two of the 'golden girls' of the outstanding 2000 Paralympic team.

Canberra schoolgirl Siobhan Paton OAM was a new face at the 2000 Parlympics and she shot to stardom after winning 6 gold medals. Slow-motion footage of one of Paton's wins underlines her prowess in the pool and the excitement felt around Australia when she won.

Paton has an intellectual disability caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. She took up swimming to assist with her connective tissue disorder and her talent was soon recognised. Interestingly she was coached by swimmer Jacqueline Freney's grandfather.

Sadly the 2000 Games was the only one Paton competed in after a scandal involving the Spanish basketball team in 2000 led the International Paralympic Committee to suspend the participation of athletes with intellectual disabilities from the 2004 and 2008 Games. However many of her swimming records remain to this day.

We see press conference footage of her and wheelchair racing champion Louise Sauvage OAM. Watching Paton's interview it's easy to see why she became renowned for her refreshingly frank and down-to-earth comments.

Powerful footage of wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage OAM – one of Australia’s most successful althletes – competing in the 5000m race showcases both her incredible talent and stamina and the electric atmosphere at Homebush Stadium during the Games.

Sauvage was born with a congenital spinal condition called myelomeningocele which inhibits the function of the lower half of the body. She also has scoliosis. She had more than 20 operations by the time she was 10 years old.

Amongst the honours she has received Sauvage was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2007 and became the first Paralympic sportsperson to be elevated to Legend status in 2019.

Finally, the clip highlights the new sport of wheelchair rugby which made its debut at the 2000 Paralympics. With all its thrills and spills it's easy to see why the sport has become unmissable viewing.

Although not winning this first gold medal, Australia has since won gold medals in the sport at the Games in Beijing in 2008 and Rio in 2016. Players like the talented Ryley Batt OAM are key to Australia's success.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Elite swimmer Ahmed Kelly, whose nickname is 'liquid nails', is representing Australia at his third Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

An Iraqi orphan, Kelly was born with double below-elbow and above-knee limb loss – probably a result of exposure to chemical weapons in utero.

His main event is the 50m breaststroke SB3 classification, but he also competes in the 50m freestyle S4, 150m individual medley SM4, 50m backstroke and the 4 x 50m freestyle relay 20 points.

He won the silver medal in the men's 150m individual medley SM3 at the 2019 world Para Swimming Championships in London.

Kelly made his Paralympic debut at the London 2012 Games with his sisters, Trishna and Krishna, the Bangladeshi conjoined twins who were famously separated in 2009, cheering him on from the stands.

Emily Angwin reports this story from Seven News Melbourne, broadcast on 27 July 2016 in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Seven has held exclusive Australian broadcast rights to the Paralympics since the 2016 Games, so this story is designed to make people tune into their coverage.

Seeing as the Games haven't taken place yet, this is a good example of a news story relying on file footage – in this case of Kelly at previous Paralympic Games – to illustrate his prowess.

The compelling human story of Ahmed's background that is told here, along with his obvious talent and determination, draws in the viewer and leaves them wanting to see him taste victory.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Tahlia Rotumah is a Minyanbal woman from Tweed Heads in NSW. She became the first Indigenous woman to represent Australia at the Paralympics in a track and field event when she competed in Beijing in 2008. She is also a South Sea Islander.

Born with hemiplegia and cerebral palsy she competed in the 100 and 200 m sprint events in 2008. She won silver medals in the events at the 2006 Far East and South Pacific Games.

Journalist Karla Grant presents this story on Indigenous current affairs program Living Black. Chris Flanders is the videographer.

This profile differs from the brief segments we see on TV news coverage. Rather than simply covering one event or a particular win, it’s a chance to get to know the athlete and we see Tahlia at home with her grandmother, at school, in training and competing as well as hearing from her about her experiences.

The inclusion of expert Janine Jones talking about the causes of cerebral palsy gives the piece an educational flavour.

Tracy Barrell was the first Indigenous woman to represent Australia at the Paralympics in swimming at the Barcelona 1992 Games. Other prominent Indigenous Paralympians include Peter Kirby, Ben Austin OAM, Kevin Coombs OAM, Warren Lawton OAM, Karl Feifar OAM and Donna Burns OAM.

Excerpt from Living Black, 16 March 2009.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Today host Karl Stefanovic introduces this profile on the Paralympic sailing dream team of Liesl Tesch AM MP and Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM, after a mention of Matt Cowdrey’s spectacular success at the London 2012 Paralympics. Cowdrey is Australia’s most successful Paralympic medallist with 23 medals in total, 13 of them gold.

Longer profiles like this offer viewers a chance to get to know the athletes they will be watching compete at the Paralympics. It was filmed in the lead-up to the 2012 Games and it’s the perfect thing to broadcast on the day of an event. The pair went on to win a gold medal in the Mixed Two Person Sailing SKUD18 division that day.

This is a great example of the playful, positive stories reporter Mike Dalton contributes to Nine’s news and current affairs offerings including Today and Nine News.

Dalton is an affable character and the story follows his formula of inserting himself into the stories and building strong rapport with his interviewees. His enthusiasm for the subject and his awe and respect for the sailors is palpable.

The story engagingly combines technical information about the craft Tesch and Fitzgibbon are sailing, human stories about the athletes and gorgeous vision of Sydney Harbour.

Tesch became an incomplete paraplegic after a mountain biking accident when she was 19 years old. She started out as a wheelchair basketball player and later turned to sailing and then politics. She is currently the State member for Gosford in NSW.

She represented Australia at the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. She has won a total of 5 Paralympic medals – 2 of them gold, which she won alongside Fitzgibbon, who is a quadriplegic.

Excerpt from Today, 6 September 2012.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This ABC News Canberra report profiles Kurt Fearnley AO – one of Australia’s most recognised and successful athletes.

Jennifer Browning's report from Newcastle covers the lead-up to Fearnley's triumphant crawl of the Kokoda Track in 2009.

The use of stock footage featuring people walking the track in good conditions, paired with a jungle soundscape, doesn't quite paint the same picture as Browning's description of the treacherous trip.

However, the story effectively integrates footage from the Academy Award-winning Australian newsreel Kokoda – Front Line! to underscore the emotional tenor of Fearnley's pilgrimage.

The newsreader's introduction frames Fearnley's heroic 96-kilometre journey as both a tribute to Australia's diggers and as a fundraiser for the Movember men's health and Beyond Blue charities.

Fearnley's preparation detailed in the story is awe-inspiring and it's easy to see how his talent and determination helped him win 13 medals across 5 Paralympics wheelchair racing events from Sydney 2000 to Rio 2016 – 3 of them gold. He also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals.

Seeing his custom-made shin pads and wrist guards really emphasises the physical toll that such a journey would take on your body.

Fearnley was born with sacral agenesis which means he is missing parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. A keen sportsperson from a young age, he took up wheelchair racing at age 14. He competed in the T54 classification in a variety of events including 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, marathon and the 4 x 100 m relay.

In 2018 Fearnley received the Don Award – named after Sir Donald Bradman – which recognises sporting achievement that has inspired the people of Australia. He was the first person with a disability to receive the award.

Excerpt from ABC News Canberra broadcast on 24 October 2009.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Skiing champion Michael Milton OAM is Australia’s most successful Winter Paralympic medallist with 11 medals in total, 6 of them gold.

The Canberra local, who had his left leg amputated above the knee when he was 9 years old due to bone cancer, represented Australia at the Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Salt Lake City 2002 and Turin 2006 Winter Paralympic Games. He is also a Paralympic cyclist and paratriathlon competitor.

This story from Capital Television News broadcast on 13 April 1994 is from relatively early in his dazzling career.

Milton's down-to-earth demeanour exemplifies the grounded, humble and adventurous spirit that Australian sportspeople are renowned for.

He is a great example of Australia’s incredibly adaptive and skilled para-athletes. In addition to to competing in the slalom, giant slalom, downhill and super-giant slalom (or Super-G as it’s known) events, he also holds the open Australian downhill speed skiing record, beating the top speeds of all skiers with a personal best speed of 213 km/h.

In July 2013 he broke the world record for running a marathon on crutches. He’s also walked the Kokoda Track twice and scaled Mount Kilimanjaro.

The reporter is Gabrielle Hallinan.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Swimming champion Priya Cooper OAM is one of Australia’s most successful Paralympians having won an awe-inspiring 16 medals, 9 of them gold. She represented Australia at the Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Summer Paralympic Games.

Cooper has cerebral palsy. She competed in the S8 classification in the backstroke, individual medley, freestyle and butterfly events. In 2015 she became the fourth Paralympian to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

She was the co-captain of the Australian team twice – in 1996 and 2000 – and she carried the flag at the Paralympic Games closing ceremony in 1992 and 1996.

This short excerpt from New 10 News Perth, broadcast on 3 December 1995, shows the Perth-born Cooper being named Australian Paralympian of the Year in 1995.

Other winners of the award include Louise Sauvage (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998), Michael Milton (2002), Siobhan Paton (2000), Tim Sullivan (2004), Matthew Cowdrey (2008), Jacqueline Freney (2012) and Dylan Alcott (2016).

This is a typical example of a short and uplifting sports story at the end of a news bulletin. It's amazing how much can be communicated in a 20-second clip. Shots of Cooper swimming and posing with medals from her Pan Pacific Games victories succinctly and effectively convey that she is a champion swimmer and elite sportsperson at the top of her game.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Sydney hosting the Summer Paralympics in 2000 gave Paralympians and parasport a profile they hadn’t previously had in Australia.

This clip, from ABC News Sydney on 27 October 2000, exemplifies the interest the Games received as we see Paralympics stories lead a news bulletin hosted by Richard Morecroft. Morecroft hosted ABC Sydney’s nightly news bulletin from 1983 to 2002.

Many in the Paralympic movement look back on the 2000 Games as a watershed moment for disabled sport internationally and of disability awareness in Australia.

Reporter Paul Lockyer mentions the success of the Games, focusing on the personal stories of two of the athletes – John Eden and Jeff McNeill.

Eden, a leg-amputee athlete who was born in New Zealand, represented New Zealand at the Arnhem 1980 Paralympics in high jump, before representing Australia in Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 in discus. He won 4 medals in total – 2 bronze and 2 silver.

It’s powerful to see footage of Eden competing on the field and see how strong he is, juxtaposed with him talking in a press conference about how close he came to death because of drug and alcohol addiction after a motorcycle accident in 1976 saw him lose his right leg below the knee.

Lockyer links Eden’s story of triumph over adversity that of athlete Jeff McNeill who has a vision impairment.

Over his career as a sportsperson McNeill competed in high jump, 100m and marathon events. At a press conference, McNeill matter-of-factly lists the injuries he sustained from a car accident in early 2000. The courage and determination on display here exemplifies why Australians got behind its Paralympians in 2000.

McNeill says ‘I’m here and I’m racing and I’ll be competitive’.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Tim Sullivan OAM is an elite Australian athlete with cerebral palsy. As we see here, Sullivan had an incredible Paralympic Games in 2000, winning 5 gold medals. He won a total of 10 gold medals over his Paralympic career, which spanned 2000 to Beijing 2008.

Veteran ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft introduces a highlights package of Day 9 of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games reported by ABC sports reporter Duncan Huntsdale.

The package also includes a brief highlight of sprinter Lisa McIntosh OAM winning the 200m for athletes with cerebral palsy. She won a total of 7 medals, 5 of them gold, across her Paralympic career.

Even just seeing those last few seconds of the race and a close-up of her crossing the finish line and looking at her time are enough to give viewers the adrenaline rush we typically associate with TV news sports coverage.

Coverage from multiple angles and including the sound of the crowd adds excitement to the story for television viewers.

Next Huntsdale calls Lisa Llorens OAM ‘Australia’s golden girl of track and field’, and it’s easy to see why, as she speeds across the screen decked out in green and gold before taking an impressive jump.

Llorens, born in Canberra, specialises in Paralympic high jumping, long jumping and sprinting, participating in competitions for athletes with autism. She won a total of 6 medals, 4 of them gold, at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Next we see exhilarating highlights from the gold medal win for the mixed 3-person sonar parasailing event featuring Noel Robins, Graeme Martin and Jamie Dunross.

Mark le Flohic OAM won 4 medals, 2 of them gold, across his road cycling career. The race we see excerpted here is the mixed Tricycle Time Trial CP Div 4 event. Peter Homann OAM won 7 medals at 3 Games from 1996 to 2004. The event we see a second of here is his gold medal ride in the mixed Bicycle Road Race CP Div 4.

David Hall and David Johnson are jubilant in defeat here as they win a silver medal in the Men’s tennis doubles.

Canberra schoolgirl Siobhan Paton won many hearts at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics winning a total of 6 gold medals for Australia and we see footage of one of her victories here.

This dynamic and comparatively thorough segment capitalises on Australia’s success at the Games in combination with stunning, professionally shot sports footage. The result of combining the stories together, with Huntsdale uttering the words ‘gold medal’ and ‘world record’ over and over, conveys Australia’s success at the Games.

The Seven Network was the official broadcaster of the Sydney 2000 Olympics but were only interested in brief highlights of the Paralympics, so the ABC’s coverage remains the most complete. It is refreshing to see that, rather than focusing on the disabilities of these athletes, the coverage showcases their sporting achievements.

Excerpt from ABC News Sydney, 27 October 2000.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This excerpt from the Network Ten series Australian Dreams (1999) profiles wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage OAM – one of Australia’s most renowned althletes. 

Australian Dreams tells the stories of 39 Australian athletes in the lead-up to Sydney hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2000. Other athletes profiled include wheelchair basketballers Troy and Jane Sachs. 

The inclusion of the song ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld (1996) on the soundtrack to this story, along with long dissolves and crash zoom edits and constantly moving camerawork, helps to date the piece to the late 1990s.

Born and bred in Perth, Sauvage won the admiration of Australians – along with 13 medals, 9 of them gold, across Paralympics spanning from Barcelona 1992 to Athens 2004. She has also won 4 Boston Marathons and was named Australian Female Athlete of the Year in 1999.

Sauvage was born with a congenital spinal condition called myelomeningocele which inhibits the function of the lower half of the body. She also has scoliosis. She had more than 20 operations by the time she was 10 years old.

Amongst the honours she has received Sauvage was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2007 and became the first Paralympic sportsperson to be elevated to Legend status in 2019. 

She was named Australian Paralympian of the Year in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998. Other winners of the award include Priya Cooper (1995), Michael Milton (2002), Siobhan Paton (2000), Tim Sullivan (2004), Matt Cowdrey (2008), Jacqueline Freney (2012) and Dylan Alcott (2016).

A key figure at the triumphant Sydney 2000 Paralympics, Sauvage lit the cauldron during the Games’ opening ceremony. 

Notes by Beth Taylor

Wheelchair basketballers Troy 'Wild Thing' Sachs OAM and Jane Sachs (née Webb) are profiled in this excerpt from the Network Ten series Australian Dreams (1999).

Troy, who was is a below-the-leg amputee, represented Australia at 5 Paralympic Games from 1992 to 2008. During his Paralympics career, with his team The Rollers, he won 3 medals – two of them gold. At the 1996 Games gold medal match he scored 42 points – a world record for the number of points scored.

An innovative player and a legend in the sport, he has also played overseas in Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the United States.

Jane represented Australia at 3 Paralympics from 1996 to 2004. She won 2 Paralympic silver medals during her career. Born in Hobart, Jane broke her back when she was 9 years old in an accident. She made her national representative debut in the sport at age 16.

Troy is definitely the focus of this piece and it’s interesting how it juxtaposes his different personas on and off the basketball court. Interview footage – in which he appears mild-mannered and friendly – is intercut with shots from his Atlanta 1996 gold medal-winning performance.

Seeing him on the court it’s easy to understand why he was dubbed ‘Wild Thing’ by his teammates. Elsewhere in the Paralympics curated collection, you can also see him 'going off' during his team's gold medal win at the Beijing 2008 Games.

Troy talks about the quest to have Paralympic athletes recognised and respected for the elite sportspeople they are. The Sydney 2000 Paralympics is acknowledged by many as a turning point for the Games in terms of gaining support from the public, both in Australia and internationally.

The Australian Dreams series tells the stories of 39 Australian athletes in the lead-up to Sydney hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2000. Other athletes profiled include wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Ben Austin OAM is an Australian Aboriginal elite sportsperson with a disability. His events include the 50 and 100m freestyle, 4 x 100m relay, 100m butterfly and the 200m medley and his classification is S8 (he is an above-elbow amputee).

Born in Wellington, New South Wales, Austin started swimming when he was 5 years old.

He competed in 3 Paralympics from Sydney 2000 to Beijing 2008 where he won a total of 10 medals, 3 of them gold.

This excerpt from a Prime 7 News Orange story broadcast on 9 January 2009 profiles Austin’s move back to his hometown and his upcoming decision about whether to compete at the next Commonwealth Games.

Austin did go on to compete at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games where he won a gold medal in the 100m freestyle.

The story makes good use of footage of Austin and his relay teammates Matt Cowdrey, Rick Pendleton and Peter Leek winning gold in the 4 x 100m medley 34 points relay at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

Voice-over of Austin talking about what an amazing experience it was nicely complements the iamges of the team stepping up to accept their gold medals.

Other prominent Indigenous Paralympians include Peter Kirby, Tahlia Rotumah, Kevin Coombs OAM, Warren Lawton OAM, Tracy Barrell OAM, Karl Feifar OAM and Donna Burns OAM.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Heath Francis OAM is an Australian elite athlete with a disability. He represented Australia at the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, winning a total of 13 medals, 6 of them gold.

Francis’ right arm was amputated when he was 7 years old after a mincing accident on his family’s farm in Booral, New South Wales. He competes in the T46 classification in the following sprint events: Men’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m relay and 4 x 400m relay.

The footage of Francis competing at the 'Bird's Nest' in Beijing, taken from multiple angles and including spectacular slow-motion vision, combines beautifully with the roar of the crowd to give viewers an idea of the incredible atmosphere at the Games.

This excerpt from ABC News Canberra, broadcast on 10 September 2008, also features controversial South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius who was the tenth athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games.

The bulletin’s focus on the ‘thrills and spills’ aspect of the competition, including accidents involving USA’s April Holmes and France’s Marie-Amelie le Fur, seems insensitive and sensational. Especially when it is coupled with a cringe-worthy pun on the athletes feeling ‘blue’ while a German athlete called Green wins the women’s 200m T44 race.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This story from reporter Alison Blanksby on Ten News Sydney, with an introduction by newsreader Ron Wilson, covers the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

The story skilfully summarises the memorable event, giving a taste of the star-studded entertainment line-up including guitarist Nathan Cavaleri, Renee Geyer, Jeff St John, Yothu Yindi and Christine Anu, who sings her classic ‘My Island Home’. Kylie Minogue sings ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and then ‘Celebration’ after a glitzy costume change.

Legendary athlete Louise Sauvage takes the ‘finest honour’ of lighting the cauldron with the Paralympic torch. Children provide added colour and movement to the ceremony and footage of athletes from several different countries reminds viewers what the Games are about.

This is a fine example of television news coverage of Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies. Stories like this one provide a record of important moments in Australia’s sporting and cultural history, capturing a snapshot of fireworks and light displays, packed stadiums, cheering crowds, eycatching costumes, jubilant athletes and outstanding music and performing artists of the time.

Excerpt from Ten News Sydney, broadcast on 19 October 2000.

Notes by Beth Taylor