With all of the para competition completed at the 2016 Australian Olympic and Paralympic Trials, Swimming Australia has announced a 31-athlete nomination roster for the 2016 Paralympics.
The roster will then be sent to the Australian Paralympic Committee for final confirmation to the 2016 Paralympics, which run from September 7th-16th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Australia has competed in swimming at every Summer Paralympic Games, winning a total of 391 medals, including 119 gold.
This year’s team is highlighted by youth, with 14-year old Tiffany Thomas-Kane, the 2015 Female Para-Swimmer of the Year Swammy Award winner, and 15-year old Timothy Hodge both making the squad. While many Paralympic veterans won’t be present in Rio, at least one swimmer, 22-year old Brenden Hall, will attempt to defend a gold medal in the S9 400 free.
The Australians return two other individual gold medalists from London: Blake Cochrane (SB7 100 breaststroke) and star Ellie Cole, who broke the S9 World Record in the 50 free at the Australian Trials. Cole, who at 24 is already a two-time Paralympian, won the 100 free gold medal at last year’s IPC World Championships.
Among the major absences are Jacqueline Freney, who was a perfect 8-for-8 in gold medals in London but was a surprise absence from this week’s trials; and Matthew Chodrey, who retired 18 months ago.
The full list of nominated athletes and coaches is below.
| First Name | Last Name | Club | State |
| Joshua | Alford | Tuggeranong Vikings | NSW |
| Michael | Anderson | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Jesse | Aungles | Marion | SA |
| Emily | Beecroft | Traralgon | VIC |
| Liam | Bekric | Norwood | SA |
| Blake | Cochrane | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Ellie | Cole | Castle Hill | NSW |
| Taylor | Corry | Nelson Bay | NSW |
| Rowan | Crothers | Yeronga Park | QLD |
| Timothy | Disken | PLC Aquatic | VIC |
| Katherine | Downie | Westside Christchurch | WA |
| Maddison | Elliott | Newcastle University | NSW |
| Daniel | Fox | Chandler | QLD |
| Brenden | Hall | Lawton | QLD |
| Guy | Harrison-Murray | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Timothy | Hodge | The Hills | NSW |
| Tanya | Huebner | Melbourne Vicentre | VIC |
| Braedan | Jason | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Jenna | Jones | Springwood | NSW |
| Ahmed | Kelly | Melbourne Vicentre | VIC |
| Matthew | Levy | Cranbrook Eastern Edge | NSW |
| Jeremy | McClure | Canning Lightning | WA |
| Ashleigh | McConnell | Melbourne Vicentre | VIC |
| Monique | Murphy | Melbourne Vicentre | VIC |
| Lakeisha | Patterson | Yeronga Park | QLD |
| Rick | Pendleton | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Logan | Powell | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Sean | Russo | MLC Marlins | NSW |
| Madeleine | Scott | Canberra | NSW |
| Jacob | Templeton | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Tiffany | Thomas Kane | Ravenswood | NSW |
| Team Leader | |||
| Adam | Pine | ||
| Head Coach | |||
| Brendan | Keogh | ||
| Coaches | |||
| Angelo | Basalo | Cranbrook Eastern Edge | NSW |
| Jan | Cameron | USC Spartans | QLD |
| Harley | Connolly | Lawnton | QLD |
| Nathan | Doyle | Castle Hill | NSW |
| Lachlan | Falvey | Ravenswood | NSW |
| Rick | Van Der Zant | Yeronga Park | QLD |
| Yuriy | Vdovychenko | National Training Centre | ACT |
The new IPC Rules that were released last year highlighted the need to remeasure under 18 short statured swimmers annually due to some exceeding the height limit set for the S6 classification (Female 130cm Male 137cm). It is believed that the annual review will now take a backseat until after Rio which could result in an S6 event being won by a tall dwarf. This is particularly relevant with hypochondroplasia which is a form of short limbed dwarfism and could result in a young swimmer being under 130cm due to age rather than condition. Upon reaching full maturation this could result in them being in the S7 or even the S8 classification on a level playing field with other athletes… Read more »
It is Jessica Long and the other female S8 swimmers that I feel for.
From all reports Jessica Long trains very hard and she is rewarded by swimming some truly impressive times.
The sad thing is that in Rio all of this will be undermined by the Patterson – Elliott three ringed circus.
Hopefully the general public will be savvy enough to recognize these two for what they are and what they represent.
This list is demonstrative of what goes wrong when those responsible for governing sport fail. There are two swimmers listed here who should be serving life time bans for Intentionally Misrepresenting twice during classification. As they are minors I will not ‘name and shame’ however such is the level of my aggrievance at the lack of acknowledgment and failure to act by the IPC regarding evidence provided that proves deception beyond doubt, I feel it necessary to comment here.
I mourn the lack of ethics and integrity within the IPC.
Here we go again folks! Repeat S8 dramas from IPC World Champs, looks like Pattersons gotten the better of Elliott in the pool though that’s very intetesting given her impairment fluctuations and complexities What happened to the claims of IM directed at the Aussies?
Wasn’t Jacqueline Freney was a perfect 8-for-8 in London?
Must say I’m surprised at a couple of the swimmers listed here – bring it on then