Australia at the Winter Paralympics

Main article: Australia at the Paralympics

Australian at the 1988 Paralympics

Australia has competed in every Winter Paralympics which began in 1976. Australia's sole competitor was Ron Finneran, but he was not an official entrant. In 1980, Kyrra Grunnsund became the first official competitor, in alpine skiing. The numbers increased to two, five, five and six at the next four games, all of them being alpine skiers. The participation decreased to four in 1998 but returned to six in 2002.

Australia won its first Winter Paralympic medals in 1992, and has been in the medal tally of every Paralympics since 1992. All of the medals have been in alpine skiing, and it was not until 2006 that Australia competed in any other sport.

Australia won four Winter Paralympic medals in 1992—one gold, a silver and two bronze. Michael Milton, an amputee alpine skier, won gold in slalom and silver in super-G. David Munk, a paraplegic sit-skier, won bronze in super-G. Michael Norton, a paraplegic sit-skier, won bronze in the downhill. In 1994, Australia won nine medals, three gold, two silver and four bronze. Milton won gold in the giant slalom, silver in slalom and bronze in downhill and super-G. Norton won gold in the slalom and super-G. James Paterson, a skier with cerebral palsy, won silver in downhill and bronze in giant slalom. Munk won bronze in giant slalom. Different disabilities have separate events, which is why Paterson and Munk both won bronze in giant slalom. In 1998, two medals were won, both by Paterson: gold in downhill and bronze in slalom.

In 2002, the medal haul was seven, consisting of six gold and one silver. Milton made a clean sweep, winning gold in the downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom. Bart Bunting, a vision-impaired skier guided by Nathan Chivers, won gold in the downhill and super-G, and silver in the giant slalom.

In 2006, Australia sent its first female Winter Paralympian, Emily Jansen, a below-knee amputee alpine skier. James Millar, who was born without his right forearm, competed in the cross-country and the biathlon, becoming the first Australian to compete in an event outside of alpine skiing. Milton attended his last Paralympics. A target of two medals was set, which took into account the consolidation of disability classes. Australia met this target, with Milton winning silver in the downhill and Toby Kane winning bronze in super-G.

Australia at the Winter Paralympics
Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1980	0	0	0	0	-
1984	0	0	0	0	-
1988	0	0	0	0	-
1992	1	1	2	4	12
1994	3	2	4	9	9
1998	1	0	1	2	16
2002	6	1	0	7	8
2006	0	1	1	2	13

Training

The primary location for Australian based training for the Winter Paralympics is in the Snowy Mountains at Thredbo and Perisher. There is a facilitaty called the Jindabyne Winter Academy of Sport where the athletes train. When they are actively training, they may be skiing by 6am and doing conditioning in other other sports during the afternoon.

See also

• Australia at the Paralympics
• Australia at the Summer Paralympics
• Australia at the Winter Olympics
• Winter sport in Australia

References

• Australian Paralympic Committee: Australia's Winter Paralympic Games Record