By Greg Blood

This list recognises Australian coaching success at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. It follows the recognition of Australian coaches of 2024 Olympic medallists.

After the 2024 Paris Paralympics, several academics in The Conversation raised issues related to the development of coaches of Paralympic athletes. The early development of coaches of athletes with a disability in Australia was through the work of Chris Nunn, Scott Goodman and Anne Green in developing resources to support coaches of Paralympic athletes. The Australian Institute of Sport led the way in appointing Paralympic athletics coaches – Chris Nunn (1996-2000), Jenni Banks (1991-1994), Scott Goodman (2001-2010), Iryna Dvorskina (2003-2013) and Alison O’Riordan (2005-2011). New South Wales Institute of Sport has appointed Andrew Dawes and Louise Sauvage as wheelchair track/ road coaches. The majority of Paralympic coaches are now funded by national sports organisations.

Successful Australian coaches at Paris 2024 included a long-time professional Paralympic coach, several Paralympic gold medallists and several Olympic swimmers.

• Iryna Dvoskina coached James Turner to two gold. At the end 2024 Paris Paralympics, Dvorskina has coached Australian athletes to 16 Gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze Paralympic athletics medals.
• Paralympic gold medallists Scott Reardon (long jumper Vanessa Low) and Louise Sauvage (wheelchair racers Madison de Rozario & Rheed McCracken) coached track and field athletes to win medals.
• Paralympic wheelchair rugby players – Brad Dubberley (Head coach) and Greg Smith (Assistant) and Jason Lees (Assistant) coached the Steelers to a bronze medal.
• Several Olympic swimmers – Ashley Callus (Thomas Gallagher ), Ashley Delaney (Ben Hance & Ruby Storm), Chris Wright (Callum Simpson) and Martin Roberts  (Alex Saffy) coached swimmers to win medals.
• Olympic canoeist Anna Wood coached two canoeing medallists,
• Olympic cyclist  Shane Kelly coached Emily Petricola.

Besides these medal winning coaches, several Paralympians from previous Games coached athletes and teams:

• Athletics- Richard Colman (Sam Rizzo), John Eden (Maria Strong) and Fred Periac (Sam McIntosh). Hamish McDonald was on the athletics coaching staff.
• Wheelchair basketball – Brad Ness (Head coach), Brett Stibners (Assistant Coach)

Coaches of Australian Paralympic Medallists

Coach information below sourced from – Paralympics Australia 2024 Paris Media Guide, Paris Paralympic Athlete Biographies and internet searches. Corrections welcome as it was sometimes difficult to determine several athletes’ coaches.

Athletics (3 Gold, 2 Silver, 6 Bronze)

• James Turner – 2 Gold – Coach Iryna Dvorskina with Sebastian Kuzminski
• Vanessa Low – 1 Gold – Scott Reardon
• Madison de Rozario – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Louise Sauvage
• Michael Roeger – 1 Silver – Philo Saunders
• Rheed McCracken – 1 Bronze – Coach Louise Sauvage
• Mali Lovell  – 1 Bronze  – Coaches Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford-Taylor 
• Michael Burian – 1 Bronze – Coach Nick Baltas
• Reece Langdon – 1 Bronze – Coach Tim O’Shaughnessy
• Dayna Crees – 1  Bronze – Coach Gordon Talbot

Boccia (2 Silver)

National Coach – Ken Halliday

• Dan Michel – 1 Silver  – Coach Ken Halliday
• Jamieson Leeson – 1 Silver  – Coach Ken Halliday

Canoe (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze)

• Curtis McGrath – 1 Gold – Coach Anna Wood
• Dylan Littlehales – 1 Silver – Coach Jake Michael
• Susan Seipel – 1 Bronze – Coach Anna Wood

Cycling (4 Gold, 4 Silver, 3 Bronze)

• Lauren Parker – 1 Gold, 1 Silver – Coach David Betts
• Korey Boddington – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach David Betts
• Emily Petricola  – 1 Gold – Coach Shane Kelly
• Amanda Reid – 1 Gold – Coach Cam Jennings
• Gordon Allan – 1 Bronze – Coach Cam Jennings
• Alistair Donohoe – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Nick Owen
• Alana Forester – 1 Bronze – Coach Nick Owen
• Jessica Gallagher / Caitlin Ward  –  1 Silver – Coach Nick Owen
•  Darren Hicks  – 1 Bronze – Coach Cam Jennings
• Meg Lemon – 1 Bronze – Coach Cam Jennings

Paratriathlon (1 Gold)

National Coach – Dan Atkins

• Lauren Parker – 1 Gold – Coach  Brad Fernley 

Rowing (1 Gold)

Head Coach – Chad King

• Jed Altswager & Nikki Ayers – 1 Gold – Coach Christine McLaren
• Erik Horrie – 1 Bronze – Chad King

Swimming (6 Gold, 8 Silver, 13 Bronze)

Head Coach – Greg Towle

• Alexa Leary – 2 Gold, 1 Silver – Coach – Jon Bell
• Tim Hodge – 2 Gold, 1 Silver – Coach Misha Payne
• Callum Simpson – 2 Gold, 1 Silver – Coach Chris Wright
• Thomas Gallagher –  1 Gold, 2 Bronze – Coach Ashley Callus
• Ben Hance – 1 Gold, 1 Silver –  Coach Ashley Delaney
• Emily Beecroft  – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Harley Connolly
• Keira Stephens – 1 Gold – Coach Glen Baker
• Jesse Aungles – 1 Gold – Coach Laura Brindley
• Emily Beecroft  – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Harley Connolly
• Rowan Crothers – 2 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Kate Sparks
• Jake Michel – 1 Silver – Brian Glass
• Laekesha Patterson – 1 Silver – Harley Connolly
• Col Pease – 1 Silver  – Jol Finck
• Ahmed Kelly  – 1 Silver – Coach Alex Hirschauer
• Madeleine McTernan – 1 Silver – Coach Ken Malcolm
• Ruby Storm – 1 Silver – Ashley Delaney
• Chloe Osborn – 1 Silver – Coach Misha Payne
• Rachael Watson – 2 Bronze – Coach Matteo Melis
• Grant Patterson   – 2 Bronze – Coach Herbie Howard
• Jack Ireland – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach David Heyden
• Ricky Betar – 1 Bronze – Coach Harley Connolly
• Brenden Hall – 1 Bronze – Coach Harley Connolly
• Lewis Bishop – 1 Bronze – Coach Josh Smith
• Alex Saffy – 1 Bronze – Coach Martin Roberts

Table Tennis (2 Gold, 3 Bronze)

Head Coach – Alois Rosario ; Assistant Coach – Maggie Meng

• Qian Yang – 2 Gold – Coach Maggie Meng
• Lei Na Lei -1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Maggie Meng
• Ma Lin – 2 Bronze
• Sam von Einem – 1 Bronze

Wheelchair Rugby (1 Bronze)

• Steelers –Brad Dubberley (Head coach) ; Greg Smith (Assistant coach) ; Jason Lees (Assistant coach) 

Concluding Thoughts

Australian Paralympic Team medals have declined significantly since 2000 Sydney Paralympics due to:

• greater competition as a result of more nations (Great Britain, China, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine & Netherlands) investing into Paralympic sport.
• decline in number of dominant athletes such swimmers ie Jacqueline Freney, Matt Cowdrey, Siobhan Paton and track athletes, Louise Sauvage, Evan O’Hanlon and Heath Francis
• reclassification of many successful athletes such as swimmers Madison Elliott and William Martin.

For the Australian Paralympic Team to improve its medal ranking in the lead up to Brisbane 2032, coaching will play a significant role through identifying and developing talented athletes with a disability.

State Institutes/Academies of Sport may look to employ more coaches with the sole focus of preparation of Paralympic athletes. One of the greatest coaching decisions made by the Australian Institute of Sport was to employ Ukranian Iryna Dvorskina who has coached many Australian athletes to Paralympic gold. It may be worthwhile in bringing into the Australian sport system successful Paralympic coaches from other nations. Australian Olympic sports frequently import international expertise.

Greater resources should be provided to coaches to allow them to understand to how effectively coach the many Paralympic disability classifications. In looking through the Clearinghouse for Sport Catalogue, it appears that many of the coaching athletes with a disability resources need to be updated and transformed using the latest digital information technology. Australia led the world in this space but it has declined since the Australian Sports Commission disbanded its Disability Sport Education area in 2010.

Finally, Paralympians should be further supported to transition into coaching. They have a great understanding of the increasing demands Paralympic sport.