Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

The 2012 London Paralympic Games were officially opened on Wednesday 29 August by Queen Elizabeth II at The Olympic Stadium in London. The Games had a record number of participating athletes at 4327, made up of 2736 men and 1501 women. London hosted 503 medal-winning events in 20 different sports.^[2][4] The Paralympians competed under six different impairment groups: amputees, blind and visually impaired, cerebral palsied, intellectually disabled, Les Autres and spinal cord injuries. These athletes set 251 new world records and 314 Paralympic Games records.^[2]

During the Games, 2.7 million tickets were sold with most events and sessions selling out. Media coverage of the Paralympic Games was high. The Games were shown in more countries than previous Games, attracting the biggest international audience yet.^[2]

The Australian Paralympic Team launch was held at Parliament House, Canberra on 25 June 2012. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott farewelled the team. Julia Gillard told the athletes that they were "the fastest, the strongest, the best".^[5] Tony Abbott said "you are best of the best. In fact you are better than that because each one of you has mastered a significant disability to be in this team".^[5] Gillard stated that the Australian Government has invested A$13 million in team funding during the last year.^[5] The Australian Paralympic Committee organised a Staging Camp in Cardiff, Wales from 1 to 28 August 2012 to allow the Australian team to prepare for the Games.^[4]

The 2012 Australian Paralympic team had 161 athletes, 90 men and 71 women, competing in 13 sports.^[4] About half the team attended their first Games.^[6] Shooter Libby Kosmala, at the age of 70, was Australia's oldest competitor.^[7] Swimmer Maddison Elliott, at the age of thirteen, was the youngest.^[8]

Jason Hellwig, the Australian Paralympic Committee's chief executive, was the Chef de Mission. While Michael Hartung and Kate McLoughlin were the Deputy Chefs de Mission.^[1]

On 21 August 2012, Greg Smith, a wheelchair rugby player and former track and field athlete, was announced as the Australian flag bearer for the London 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony.^[4][9] The announcement was made at a special ceremony for the Australian Paralympic Team in front of Cardiff Castle in Wales.^[4][9]

The Australian Paralympic Committee worked to classify each Australian Paralympian's individual disability well before the London Games. This was to ensure that each Paralympian qualified for their event and to "minimise any effect on [each Paralympian's] Games preparation”. As such, the number of classifiers in the Australian Paralympic Committee, with the capacity to classify an athlete's impairment group, increased to 176 from 166 during 2011–2012.^[4]

• Australian Paralympian of the Year: Jacqueline Freney
• APC President's Medal for Excellence in Sportsmanship: Libby Kosmala (shooting)/ Kieran Modra (cycling)
• Male Athlete of the Year: Evan O’Hanlon (athletics)
• Female Athlete of the Year: Jacqueline Freney (swimming)
• Junior Athlete of the Year: Maddison Elliott (swimming)/ Rheed McCracken (athletics)
• Team of the Year: The Steelers (wheelchair rugby)/ SKUD18 crew (sailing)
• Coach of the Year: Peter Day (cycling)
• Paralympic Achievement Award: Matthew Cowdrey (swimming)^[4]

A cerebral palsy swimmer and the highest achieving individual athlete of the Games, winning eight gold medals. This is the most gold medals won by an Australian athlete at a single Paralympic Games.

- Awards: Australian Paralympian of the Year 2012 and Australian Female Athlete of the Year.

- The most successful individual medallist of any nation in London.

- Ranked equal first on total medals won at a single Paralympic Games with fellow Australian swimmer Matthew Cowdrey and USA swimmer Jessica Long, with eight medals in total.

- Events where Freney won a gold medal:

• 100 m backstroke (S7)
• 50 m butterfly (S7)
• 100 m freestyle (S7)
• 50 m freestyle (S7)
• 400 m freestyle (S7)
• 200 m individual medley (SM7)
• Women's 4x100 m freestyle relay (34 pts) with Ellie Cole, Katherine Downie, Maddison Elliott
• Women's 4x100 m medley relay (34 pts) with Ellie Cole, Katherine Downie, Annabelle Williams^[4]

An arm amputee swimmer, winning eight medals – five gold, two silver and one bronze medal. During the Games, he became Australia's greatest Paralympian in terms of gold and total medals. He finished the Games with 13 gold medals.

- Awards: Paralympic Achievement Award

-Events where Cowdrey won a gold medal:

• 100 m backstroke (S9)
• 50 m freestyle (S9)
• 100 m freestyle (S9)
• 200 m individual medley (SM9)
• Men's 4x100 m freestyle relay (34 pts) with Michael Anderson, Michael Auprince, Blake Cochrane, Matthew Haanappel Brenden Hall, Matthew Levy, Andrew Pasterfield

- Events where Cowdrey won a silver medal:

• 100 m butterfly (S9)
• 100 m breaststroke (SB8)

- Events where Cowdrey won a silver medal:

• Men's 4x100 m medley relay (34 pts) with Michael Anderson, Michael Auprince, Matthew Haanappel, Brenden Hall, Matthew Levy, Andrew Pasterfield, Rick Pendleton^[4]

A cerebral palsy athletics sprinter, winning two gold medals.

- Awards: Australian Male Athlete of the Year

- Events where O’Hanlon won a gold medal:

• 100 m (T38)
• 200 m (T38)^[4]

A leg amputee swimmer, winning 4 gold medals and 2 bronze medals.

- Events where Cole won a gold medal:

• 100 m backstroke (S9)
• 100 m freestyle (S9)
• Women's 4x100 m freestyle relay (34 pts) with Katherine Downie, Maddison Elliott, Jacqueline Freney
• Women's 4x100 m medley relay (34 pts) with Katherine Downie, Jacqueline Freney, Annabelle Williams

- Events where Cole won a bronze medal:

• 50 m freestyle (S9)
• 400 m freestyle (S9)^[4]

A cerebral palsy swimmer, at the age of thirteen, became Australia's youngest gold medalist and medalist.^[2]

- Awards: Australian Junior Athlete of the Year

- Event where Elliott won a gold medal:

• Women's 4x100 m freestyle relay (34 pts) with Ellie Cole, Katherine Downie, Jacqueline Freney

- Event where Elliott won a silver medal:

• 50 m freestyle (S8)

- Events where Elliott won a bronze medal:

• 100 m freestyle (S8)
• 400 m freestyle (S8)^[4]

The wheelchair rugby team won its first Paralympic Games gold medal and the SKUD 18 sailing team won the first sailing gold medal since the Sydney Games in 2000.

- Awards: Team of the Year – Australian wheelchair rugby team, The Steelers, and the SKUD 18 sailing team, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch.

- Events where they won a gold medal:

• Wheelchair rugby
• SKUD 18 sailing^[4]

The International Paralympic Committee said that "the London Paralympic 2012 Games were watched by a cumulative international audience of 3.4 billion (excluding the host nation), which is an increase of around 37 percent on the last summer Games in Beijing".^[2]

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was the official Australian broadcaster.^[4][10]

The ABC provided over 100 hours of free to air coverage on ABC1.^[11] This coverage had a broadcast team of veteran Olympic and Paralympic athletes. ABC2 broadcast live panel programs at night. These programs aimed “to look at the lighter side of the games”.^[11] The ABC also had regular updates on News 24 and on their website, ABC online. Through this website and ABC's iView, Australians were able to access Paralympic coverage at any time.^[11]

The average number of audience viewers per day was 1.6 million people. The Australian Paralympic Team's Facebook page grew by 16,000 fans and its YouTube channel reached close to 474,000 views.^[4][11]

The Australian Government declared that the coverage was “the most comprehensive ever implemented by the Australian Paralympic Committee Communications division”.^[4]

Statistics show that the number of media stories about the Paralympic Games has increased each time since the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympic Games.^[4][12]

The number of media stories increased over time because of interest. The table below shows the increased interest by the Australian public as it shows the increasing number of viewers in millions.^[4][12]

The media coverage on the Paralympic Games had an effect on Australian society. The increased coverage and increased audiences showed Australia's increased interest in Paralympic sport.

Light-hearted panel shows aided this interest. For instance, Australian comedian, Adam Hills, created a show called The Last Leg. Hills hosts the show with Alex Brooker, both of whom are disabled, and with comedian Josh Widdicombe. Broadcast on the ABC in Australia and on Channel 4 in the UK, the show recapped each day's competition at the London 2012 Paralympics, engaging in feedback from the public, which “facilitated dialogue… [and encouraged the exploration of] issues of disability in an open and respectful but also playful way”.^[13][14]

These panel shows and high-profile Paralympic athletes are using their position for political activism. Consequently, it is argued that the media and individual Paralympic athletes have “helped change societal perspectives… [as] para-athletes are now increasingly being judged alongside other sporting peers with or without a disability”.^[14]

As such, Paralympians are now beginning to have commercial success. For instance, Paralympians Kelly Cartwright, Ahmed Kelly, Dylan Alcott, Kurt Fearnley and Evan O’Hanlon featured in Qantas’ London 2012 Ambassador Program and the airline's in-flight safety message, which ran from June 2012.^[4]

Paralympians Kurt Fearnley, Matt Cowdrey, Kelly Cartwright and Toby Kane made eleven public appearances for Telstra.^[4]

While Paralympians Dylan Alcott, Grace Bowman, Matthew Cowdrey and Jessica Gallagher appeared in the Swisse Vitamins television commercials.^[4]

On a broader level, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) suggest that the Olympics and Paralympics provide inspiration for ordinary people to get motivated to participate in sport, known as the “trickle-down effect”.^[15]

However, research by the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies refutes their statement. They argue that data from the Exercise Recreation and Sport survey shows that “no increase of participation in Olympic sports was found”, which suggests that Olympic sport does not inspire the “trickle-down effect”. However, they also note that a similar study “cannot be carried out for Paralympic sports” because Commonwealth and State departments of sport “never included a disability module”.^[15]

A report by Disability Rights Now suggests that “support for grassroots participation and pathways to elite level competition is lacking”. They argue against relying on the Australian Paralympic Committee's (APC) Talent Search Program and the APC's emphasis on elite development over grassroots participation.^[15]

However, the Australian Government argues that the Talent Search Program is successful. For the 2012 London Paralympics, 43 Paralympic athletes on the Australian team were found using this program. Of these athletes, twenty-five won a medal at the 2012 Games – ten gold, seven silver and eleven bronze – which is 32.9 per cent of Australia's total medal tally.^[4]

Also, the program has achieved better results than the previous Talent Search period, as demonstrated in the table below:

Talent Search Program table^[4]