Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Officer’s Report

We at Paralympics Australia believe the decade leading up to the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games has the potential to entrench our nation as a global Para-sport leader and improve thousands of lives through the power of participation.

Vital to us achieving those goals will be our relationship with Rowing Australia, which I’m pleased to say continues to go from strength to strength. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games represented a triumph of collaboration between our organisations, as we navigated a range of complex issues and logistics to support our eight-strong Para-Rowing team, who represented Australia with pride and distinction on Sea Forest Waterway. Each of our three crews had something remarkable to celebrate. For Erik Horrie OAM in the Single Scull PR1, there was the incredible achievement of capturing a third consecutive Paralympic Silver Medal, followed by his well deserved prize of Rowing Australia’s Para-Athlete of the Year, the culmination of years of dedication to excellence. Another who has shown exceptional consistency at the highest level is Kathryn Ross, who teamed with Simon Albury in the Mixed Double Scull PR2 and joined a select few rowers worldwide who have competed at every Paralympic Regatta since the sport was introduced at Beijing in 2008. Our third crew, the Mixed Coxed Four consisting of Alexandra Viney, Nikki

Ayers, Tom Birtwhistle, James Talbot

and Renae Domaschenz lacked experience but delivered in courage and sheer effort to finish fourth in the A Final, just out of the medals. Each member of the Australian ParaRowing Team overcame massive challenges to prepare and execute their Tokyo programs. I’d like to pay tribute to the athletes, Head Coach for ParaRowing at Rowing Australia Gordon Marcks and everyone at Rowing Australia and Paralympics Australia who played their part in the campaign. This is the kind of teamwork that holds us in good stead as we head towards Paris 2024 and beyond. The addition to the 2024 Paralympic Regatta of a fifth boat class, the PR3 Mixed Double Scull, presents new opportunities and adds even more value to the #Passport2Paris Para-Rowing pathway program, a collaboration between Rowing Australia, the Australian Institute of Sport and Paralympics Australia aimed at driving performance post-Tokyo and laying the foundation for long-term success through Talent Identification and a focus on the development of female Para-rowers. With the Brisbane Paralympic Games locked in for 2032, there has never been a better time for Para-sports to strategise athletic excellence and renew their appeal and success as a mode for inclusion and social change. Rowing Australia has proven its values lie strongly within these dual goals, which lie also at the heart of the Paralympics Australia mindset. We thank our colleagues at Rowing Australia for their partnership throughout the reporting period and look forward to continuing and expanding on our work together over the next year.

CATHERINE CLARK

Chief Executive Officer Paralympics Australia