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Following Australia’s incredible performance at the Olympics, attention now turns to the country’s Paralympic stars heading to Paris.
Australia took 21 gold medals last time out in Tokyo, with its best performance coming in Sydney 24 years ago when it topped the medals table with 63 golds.
Their efforts in Paris may fall somewhere in between, if these impressive athletes perform at their best on the big stage.
Here, Daily Mail Australia profiles the Aussie stars heading to Paris and their incredible stories.
Australian athletes will travel to Paris for the Paralympic Games this summer
Curtis McGrath
Defending Para-canoe medallist Curtis McGrath’s journey to the Paralympics began with a joke when he was placed on a stretcher after a mine explosion.
Having lost both legs, the combat engineer joked: “I’ll go to the Paralympics.”
“I knew my legs were gone, they weren’t coming back,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“It was a traumatic day for everyone and if I could say anything to alleviate that, that’s why I said what I said.”
Since then, he has become Australia’s top para-canoeist, winning three gold medals in total.
“The skills I learned in the military helped me persevere, keep going when things got tough and be pretty resourceful,” added McGrath, 36.
Curtis McGrath is an Australian war hero and survived a mine explosion in Afghanistan.
Ma Lin
Australian table tennis star Ma Lin was just five years old when a brown bear ate her right arm during a family trip to a nearby zoo in China in the mid-1990s.
She was only five years old at the time of the attack and was lucky to survive, given the amount of blood lost during the episode.
“I thought he was my friend because I used to go to the zoo every week to feed him,” Ma Lin said.
“So, I decided to reach out and pet him, but I guess he wasn’t in a good mood that day.”
Surprisingly, Ma Lin remained conscious and did not cry throughout the entire ordeal.
“I think I was a little bit in shock,” she said. “But I didn’t cry. Not once.”
Ma Lin, who was a talented pianist before the attack, focused on table tennis and had to learn to play left-handed as he was naturally right-handed. He won gold medals for China in Beijing, London and Rio before defecting to Australia after moving to Australia.
Ma Lin lost his right arm after being attacked by a bear in China when he was just five years old.
Madison of Rozario
Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario developed a neurological condition called transverse myelitis when she was just four years old, which affects the spinal cord.
Just 10 years after being confined to a wheelchair, de Rozario was representing Australia as a teenager at the Beijing Games.
She became Australia’s Paralympian of the Year after winning gold in the 800 metres and marathon in Tokyo.
De Rozario will be her country’s flag bearer in Paris, alongside swimmer Brenden Hall.
Vanessa Baja
Low, 34, the reigning long jump champion, previously represented Germany before moving to Australia in 2019.
He was just 15 when he fell from a crowded platform in front of an oncoming train. As a result, Low lost both legs and suffered fractures to his back and head injuries.
Low took up athletics two years later and made the German team. She became an Australian when she met and married fellow Paralympian Scott Reardon. They have a son, Matteo, who was born in June 2022.
German-born Vanessa Low defected to Australia after marrying her husband Scott Reardon.
Tristan Knowles
Knowles, the captain of the Australian wheelchair basketball team, was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of nine.
As a result, her left leg was amputated above the knee, but the cancer returned after 12 years and she had to undergo 22 rounds of chemotherapy and a lung lobectomy.
After going into remission, she began her wheelchair basketball career as a teenager and has led her nation to six separate Paralympic Games.
Ameera Lee
Lee was a relative latecomer to archery when her 15-year-old son, Huthaifa, encouraged her to try the sport in 2016.
The single mother, who has multiple sclerosis, will be part of Australia’s largest para-archery team in 40 years.
Chris Bond
Bond was 19 when he woke up from a coma to learn he had lost his left hand, right fingers and legs after surviving a bacterial infection and acute promyelocytic leukemia.
The Steelers captain joined a wheelchair rugby team and established himself as one of the world’s best players just six years after awakening from his coma.
He led the Steelers through a glittering era that saw them win two Paralympic gold medals in London and Rio, as well as a world championship.
Chris Bond is one of the greatest wheelchair rugby players of all time.
Daniel Michel
Michel, 29, has muscular dystrophy and will represent Australia in boccia, which has no equivalent at the Olympics.
She won bronze in Tokyo, but has received backing to challenge for the top prize in Paris.
Michel was the first athlete to compete in the sport for Australia in 16 years when he represented his nation in Rio.
Daniel Michel has represented Australia in boccia at two Paralympic Games
Alexa Leary
Leary was on her way to a promising triathlon career when a cycling accident in 2021 changed the course of her life.
He suffered permanent brain damage, blood clots and broken bones after the accident and, remarkably, learned to walk and talk again, turning to swimming to support his rehabilitation.
Just two years later, she made the Australian para-swimming team and secured her place in Paris with gold and silver in the 100m and 50m swim at the world championships.
