All The LGBT Athletes Set To Make Their Mark At The 2024 Paralympics
Image: Image: Athletics Essendon / Historica
Team LGBT looks set to continue its winning streak, with at least 41 LGBTQIA+ athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
The opening ceremony featured two LGBTQIA+ flag bearers – Lucy Shuker of Great Britain and Mar Gunnarsson of Iceland.
Medals have already begun to tally, with France’s Marie Patouillet and Canada’s Kate O’Brien winning silver and bronze respectively in paracycling.
Unlike the Olympics, the Paralympics allow trans women athletes to compete. They must submit documentation and demonstrate that their testosterone has consistently been within the normal female range for at least 12 months.
All the Aussie LGBT athletes at the Paralympics
Nikki Ayers
Originally a talented rugby player from the small town of Dalmeny in NSW, Nikki transitioned to para rowing after a bad tackle left her with permanent injuries. She quickly found success, breaking two world records, and moved to Adelaide to be closer to her rowing partner, Jed Altschwager. While she was initially uncertain about being publicly out, she has since found her voice after the pair were reprimanded for wearing socks with a rainbow stripe at last year’s World Rowing Cup. Nikki is now a 2024 ambassador of the Pride House (an organisation creating pop-up safer spaces for LGBTQIA+ people at major sporting events).
Al Viney
An ambitious and sporty child, Al had dreams of representing Australia at the Olympics. But the night before her Year 12 graduation, a drunk driver crashed into her family’s car, and she thought those dreams were over. It wasn’t until years later, when a co-worker casually mentioned the Paralympics, that Al realised her ambitions could still be achieved. Just a few months after that conversation, Al qualified for the para rowing team and will now compete for Australia in the Mixed Cox Four event.
Maz Strong
After working as an athletics official for many years, Maz now finds themself on the other end of the referee’s whistle. In their late 40s, Maz picked up a shotput just to join in the fun at an athletic event. Since then, they’ve broken Australian, Oceanian and Paralympic records, as well as become Australia’s only nonbinary Paralympic athlete in the 2024 games.
Anu Francis
Not knowing how to swim or ride a bike didn’t put Anu off entering the para triathlon. Three years after jumping in the water for the first time, she’s now raked number 2 in the world. The decision to change sports came after the late diagnosis of a rare neurological disorder meant she couldn’t compete in para rowing at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. Relentlessly ambitious, even after a back injury threatened to derail her dreams in 2023, she pushed on and came second in the World Triathlon Para Series.
Ben Weekes
This will be Ben’s sixth Paralympics as one of Australia’s most experienced Paralympians. A wheelchair tennis player, he began his Paralympic career in 2004 at 19 years old. Twenty years later, he’s still going strong, telling the ABC “I’m just really lucky I’ve been able to dedicate my life to the sport that I love.” However, it looks like he might be looking to pass the baton, stating “I’m just really hoping to enjoy it this time, having all the pressure off knowing it’s probably going to be my last game.”
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All the LGBT athletes at the Paralympics by country
Belgium
Kevin van Ham
Para Equestrian
Brazil
Alana Maldonado
Para Judo
Mateus de Assis Silva
Para Powerlifting
Edenia Garcia
Para Swimming
Mari Gesteira
Para Swimming
Patricia Pereira dos Santos
Para Swimming
Debora Menezes
Para Taekwondo
Jardênia Felix
Long Jump
Suzana Nahirnei
Shotput
Canada
Kate O’Brien
Para Cycling
Tara Llanes
Wheelchair Basketball
Cindy Ouellet
Wheelchair Basketball
France
Marie Patouillet
Para Cycling
Pauline Deroulede
Wheelchair Tennis
Germany
Mareike Miller
Wheelchair Basketball
Great Britain
Emma Wiggs
Para Canoe
Lauren Rowles
Para Rowing
Louis Lawlor
Para Swimming
Robyn Love
Wheelchair Basketball
Lucy Robinson
Wheelchair Basketball
Laurie Williams
Wheelchair Basketball
Lucy Shuker
Wheelchair Tennis
Iceland
Mar Gunnarsson
Para Swimming
Ireland
Katie-George Dunlevy
Para Cycling
Richael Timothy
Para Cycling
Israel
Moran Samuel
Para Rowing
Italy
Valentina Petrillo
Para Track and Field
Mexico
Brenda Osnaya
Para Triathlon
Netherlands
Bo Kramer
Wheelchair Basketball
Diede de Groot
Wheelchair Tennis
United States
Jaleen Roberts
Para Track and Field
Hailey Danz
Para Triathlon
Monique Matthews
Sitting Volleyball
Josie Aslakson
Wheelchair Basketball
Kaitlyn Eaton
Wheelchair Basketball
Courtney Ryan
Wheelchair Basketball
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