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Michelle Payne in line for the prestigious Don award

Michelle Payne was the story of the Spring Carnival, winning 2015's Melbourne Cup. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
22nd September, 2016
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Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne is a chance to take home one of Australian sport’s biggest awards, becoming one of eight nominees for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s 2016 Don Award.

Payne made history last year when she rode her way to Melbourne Cup victory, guiding Price of Penzance to an unlikely win in the nation’s biggest race of the year. It was the first time in the 155-year history of the Cup that a female jockey had won the race.

Rob de Castella, the chairman of the selection committee, was at pains to emphasise the award is not for the most successful athlete or team of the year, but rather for an athlete who has inspired Australia.

“It’s an award that seeks to capture, celebrate, recognise and reward the individual or team who has ‘most inspired the nation’ through their performance,” de Castella said.

“It is easy to be bedazzled by phenomenal athleticism and amazing sporting excellence, and there is nothing wrong with this.

“Indeed it is one of the greatest things about sport.”

Payne is up against an all-star group of nominees dominated by Olympians and Paralympians.

Australian Olympic flag bearer Anna Meares, who captured her sixth track cycling medal in Rio, is one of the other nominees, as are gold medallists Kim Brennan (rowing) and Kyle Chalmers (swimming).

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Paralympians Dylan Alcott, who won two golds in wheelchair tennis in Rio, and Curtis McGrath, who was Australia’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony after winning canoeing gold, were also both nominated.

The women’s rugby sevens team, who claimed the sport’s first-ever gold medal in Rio after a pulsating gold medal match against fierce rivals New Zealand, was the sole team nominated for the award.

The only non-Olympic or Paralympic nominee outside of Payne is rugby league superstar Johnathan Thurston, who won his fourth Dally M medal (an NRL record) before guiding the North Queensland Cowboys to their first premiership with an inspirational performance in the grand final against rivals the Brisbane Broncos.

The winner of The Don will be announced on October 13.

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