Ryley Batt

Ryley Batt in 2007

Personal information

Born

22 May 1989 (age 27)

Sport

Wheelchair rugby

Disability class

3.5

Team

Australian Steelers (2003–current)

Medal record

Paralympic Games
	2008 Beijing	Mixed
	2012 London	Mixed
	2016 Rio	Mixed
World Championships
	2010 Vancouver	Mixed
	2014 Odense	Mixed

Ryley Batt, OAM (born 22 May 1989) is an Australian wheelchair rugby player. He has won two gold and a silver medal at four Paralympic Games.

Ryley Douglas Batt was born on 22 May 1989 without legs and had surgery to separate his webbed fingers. Up to the age of twelve, he did not use a wheelchair, preferring to move around on a skateboard.

He was convinced to use a wheelchair when he saw a demonstration of wheelchair rugby at his school, and took up the sport shortly afterwards in that year. He first participated in the Australian Steelers in 2002. He was part of the national team at the 2004 Athens Games, where he was the youngest Paralympic rugby player in the world at the age of 15, the 2008 Beijing Games, where the team won a silver medal, and the 2012 London Games, when the team won a gold medal.

From 2006 to 2010, he was the national team's most valuable player.

He competed in the 2010 World Rugby Wheelchair Championships, where his team won a silver medal, and he won the most valuable player award. He was a member of the Australian team that won its first world championship gold medal at the 2014 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships at Odense, Denmark.

He was a member of the team that retained its gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics after defeating the United States 59–58 in the final.

He lives in the New South Wales city of Port Macquarie, and leads the New South Wales Gladiators and the San Diego Sharp Edge in the United States.

Batt was a finalist for the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."

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