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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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PARALYMPIC GAMES

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for Disability.

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier will come to order.

Ms SIMMONS: Can the minister advise the house of the achievements of South Australians at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Northern Suburbs, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (14:23): I thank the member for Morialta for her question. Members of this house would know about her very long association with a range of disability organisations. This morning I had the honour of joining the Premier, the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing and the Lord Mayor at the Adelaide Town Hall to welcome home South Australia's Paralympians who competed in the Beijing Paralympics.

We were joined by the Lieutenant-Governor, Hieu Van Le, and our former governor, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson. There were also many excited school students. The students from Grange Primary School, which is in the electorate of the Minister for Industrial Relations, were very excited about welcoming home these sporting heroes. The International Paralympics Committee chief, Phil Craven, declared the Beijing games to be the greatest Paralympics ever, and certainly we in Australia should be very proud of the performance of our athletes, having finished fifth overall with a total of 79 medals.

All in all, South Australia had eight athletes who won medals in 13 different events in Beijing, with some truly outstanding performances. At the top of that list is undoubtedly our very own superfish from Salisbury Heights, Matthew Cowdrey. It is not surprising that he was chosen to be the Australian flag bearer for the closing ceremony. Not only did Matthew win a remarkable five gold and three silver medals at the Water Cube to be crowned the most successful individual athlete of the games, but all five gold medals were secured in world record time.

Hallett Cove cyclist Kieran Modra and his pilot, Tyson Lawrence, repeated their effort from the Athens games in 2004 by winning gold in the 4,000 metre pursuit and a bronze medal in the time trial. South Australia's three representatives in wheelchair rugby—George Hucks, Ryan Scott and captain Steven Porter—as part of the Australian squad, reached the gold medal playoff and proudly came home with silver medals. I can only imagine what wheelchair rugby must be like. I know how rough wheelchair basketball is.

Another cyclist, Felicity Johnson, and her pilot, Katie Parker, produced a personal best time to win a silver medal in the time trial. Ferryden Park swimmer Jay Dohnt turned in a fantastic performance to win a bronze medal in the 400 metres freestyle. Like Felicity and Katie, Jay was competing at his first Paralympics. At 66 years of age, Libby Kosmala competed in her 10th Paralympic Games in Beijing, and she has not ruled out competing in London. She showed she has lost none of her skill or competitive spirit by finishing fourth in the air rifle competition, and narrowly missing out on her 13th Paralympic medal.

The efforts and achievements of our 2008 Paralympians are quite outstanding, and I venture to say these people would challenge the most able-bodied of us. They are clearly an inspiration to all South Australians, and I am certain these efforts will spur a number of budding athletes with disabilities to aim for London in 2012. They are all great role models to all South Australians, with the courage, determination and commitment that they portrayed throughout their training period and at the Paralympic Games.

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