Aussie Paralympians do us proud

Minister for Disability Reform Jenny Macklin, Minister for Sport Kate Lundy and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers Jan McLucas today congratulated the Australian Paralympic Team for delivering an outstanding performance at the London Paralympic Games.

The 2012 Australian Paralympic Team finished equal fourth in the gold medal count with the Ukraine – locked on 32 gold medals – and fifth on the total medal table ahead of the United States of America.

The Australians won 32 gold, 23 silver and 30 bronze medals to bring our final medal haul to 85 medals.

The gold medal rush exceeds Australia’s gold medal count from the Beijing and Athens Games.

Our Paralympians shone on the world stage, but our swim stars were the stand out performers, scooping more than half of Australia’s gold medal haul in the pool – the best result in over 28 years since the 1984 Paralympics.

The London Games will be remembered for amazing sporting feats, excellence and increased competition with a record number of countries vying for medals.

Our athletes were amazing ambassadors and they performed strongly to ensure Australia finished among the top five countries.

The sporting standard in London was exceptional and our Australian Paralympians proved why we are among the best in the world – scoring medals in nine of the 13 sports contested in London.

All our athletes delivered gutsy performances at the London Paralympics and they did us proud on the ultimate stage.

The Australian Government provided strong funding to support our Paralympic Team, committing over $13.7 million in 2011-12 for the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) and $2.7 million in Direct Athlete Support (DAS) to help Australia’s Paralympic athletes reach their potential.