Following a somewhat disappointing Sochi Olympics for the able bodied athletes it’s now time for the Paralympians to take to the ice and snow on Friday night.
Disappointed with Channel Ten’s coverage of the Olympic Games? Don’t despair ABC has bought the broadcast rights to the Paralympics.
ABC’s coverage will include two daily highlights shows and live streaming of a number of events on their website.
Australia is sending a contingent of nine athletes and two guides to Sochi where they will be looking to improve upon the 16th place they earned in Vancouver.
The Paralympic athletes are some of the most inspirational athletes around the world; every single one of them has gone through more trials and tribulations than most Australians.
As I did for the Olympics, I feel it’s fitting to highlight Australia’s strongest medal hopes for the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games.
Cameron Rahles-Rahbula
The Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer is one of six Alpine Skiers to be representing Australia in Sochi. The 30-year-old veteran of three Paralympic Games is competing in his final Games and hopes to finish his international career on a high note.
Rahles-Rahbula lost his left leg to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, at the age of 14 and was introduced to skiing just two weeks later. Within days he was able to ski unassisted and has been hooked ever since.
The full-time physio will be competing in all five of the Alpine Skiing events; Downhill, Super G, Super Combined, Giant Slalom and Slalom.
He is a three-time former World Champion however has spent a lot of time away from the snow since 2010, when he won double bronze.
He is certainly an extremely accomplished skier, however I feared that he did not have the conditioning to prepare for what is a very difficult Sochi course.
Unfortunately this proved to be the case, Rahles-Rahbula crashed and fractured his leg in practice on Wednesday.
Cameron will stay with the team and carry the flag on Friday however he has been ruled out of his early events.
In a testament to how courageous this man is he hopes to be able to compete in the Slalom events in the second week of the Games.
Toby Kane
Joining Rahles-Rahbula in the five LW2 Alpine Skiing events is 27 year old Toby Kane.
Kane, who has also indicated that he will retire after Sochi, is competing in his third Paralympic Games, having won Bronze in the Super G in Torino at just 19 years of age.
Kane lost his lower right leg in a car accident at the age of two and has battled through adversity his entire life.
He is a World Championship medalist and is currently in superb form. He was victorious in what will likely be his last ever World Cup event in Italy in late February.
Kane took out the Super Combined event and dedicated the win, his first ever World Cup victory, to his late teammate Matthew Robinson who tragically passed away after a crash in competition last month.
Mitchell Gourley
Perhaps Australia’s strongest gold medal hope, 22-year-old Gourley is another Alpine Skier.
He will compete in all five Alpine Skiing disciplines in the LW6/8-2 classification. Gourley was born with his left arm ending slightly below the elbow and has been representing Australia since the age of 15.
Gourley has won six medals in the current World Cup season, including two Gold medals.
The keen cycler hopes to back up these recent strong performances by taking out his maiden Paralympic Medal, hopefully it’s a Gold one.
Jessica Gallagher
Gallagher became the first female Australian Paralympian to win a Winter Paralympics medal by taking home the Bronze in the Women’s Slalom in Vancouver.
The legally blind athlete showed her athletic prowess by also competing in athletics at the London 2012 Paralympics and winning two bronze medals at the 2011 Athletics World Championships.
Gallagher is coached by Steve Graham, the same man who shot Michael Milton to historic heights, and has been performing strongly in recent months.
She has won medals in recent World Cup meets and enters these Games as the third ranked B3 Alpine Skier in the world, B3 being her classification.
She is another Australian competing in all five Alpine Skiing events and will hope to live up to this ranking, something some of the able-bodied athletes were unable to do.
Melissa Perrine
Perrine is another inspirational female Australian athlete, having suffered from vision impairment since birth.
Her eyesight has slowly deteriorated over time to the point where she can now only see blurry shapes and colours.
Competing in her second Paralympics, she will be hoping to improve upon her performances in Vancouver, with her best finish being a fifth place in the downhill event.
Following on from her performance in Vancouver, she earned a silver and two bronze medals at the 2011 World Championships and is currently the fourth ranked B2 Alpine Skier in the world.
Perrine favours the Downhill and Super G events and will be hoping to earn a medal in these events.
Australia’s Paralympic athletes are an inspiration to the entire country, they have battled through significant amounts of adversity throughout their entire lives and it is a significant achievement to be competing at a Paralympics.
While the athletes I have mentioned above have the best chance of achieving a medal, special mention must also go to snowboarders Trent Milton, Ben Tudhope and Joany Badenhorst who will become the first athletes to represent Australia in snowboard events at the Winter Paralympics.
Good luck to all of Australia’s Paralympic Team, I hope you all achieve your best and I’m sure you will do your nation proud.
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