Australia at the 1980 Summer Paralympics
| Australia at the 1980 Summer Paralympics |
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| IPC code | AUS | ||||||||
| NPC | Australian Paralympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Arnhem | |||||||||
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Medals Ranked 14th |
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| Summer Paralympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands. It was the 6th Summer Paralympic game in which Australia competed. Australia won 55 medals – 12 gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze medals. Australia competed in 10 sports and won medals in 6 sports. It finished 14th on the gold medal table and 9th on the total medal table.
Notable Australian performances were:
"I encourage all disabled people to follow your example and take an active part in sporting activities" This was the line delivered to the Paralympic team by the Prime minister at the time, Mr Malcolm Fraser. He remarked that "These Olympics are the culmination of many years of dedication and hard work." He congratulated the team "on behalf of the Government and all Australians" and wished them good luck and success. He spoke to the team on June 18 1980 and this was reported on in the national newspaper ‘The Australian’.
To compete in the 1980 Paralympics in Arnhem, the athletes were required to raise their own funding for travel expenses as there was no governing body in Australia at the time. One particular wheelchair athlete (Fred Pointer) was reported to be travelling from Melbourne to Sydney in his wheelchair to raise funds. He completed this in a wheelchair he designed his self.
Australia competed in 3 classes of 4 in 10 sports and won medals in six sports. Amputee athletes in Australia did not have a national body but the previous experiences at the Torontolympiad and at the Sydney FESPIC Games provided the impetus for individual athletes to attend Arnhem. There were no selection trials and the 11 athletes who competed had to cover their cost to get and from the Games. There were also eleven vision-impaired athletes from Australia who attended Arnhem. These athletes had the advantage of a national organisation, formed in the same year as the Arnhem Games, which raised funds and assisted in preparation in participation. The biggest contingent of Australians at Arnhem was athletes with a spinal cord injury and they experienced the most success winning a total of 34 medals. Even though the 1980 Paralympic Games were the first time that cerebral palsy athletes joined spinal cord injury, blind and amputees athletes at the Paralympics, Australia did not have a national organisation and did not send any cerebral palsy athletes.
The team was led by Coach Terry Keneghan.
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Australia represented by:
Men - Dennis Kennedy, Eric Klein, Ian Trewhella
Women – Susan Davies
Australia won a silver medal through Ian Trewhella's performance in Men's short metric round tetraplegic.
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