Maddison Elliott

Maddison Gae Elliott, OAM (born 3 November 1998) is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team.^[1] At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals.^[2]

Maddison Elliott

2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Elliott
Personal information
Full name	Maddison Gae Elliott
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1998-11-03) 3 November 1998 (age 25) Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Classifications	S9
Club	NU Swim
Coach	Paul Sharman
Medal record Women's paralympic swimming Representing  Australia Paralympic Games 2012 London 4×100 m freestyle 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 m freestyle S8 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m freestyle S8 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m freestyle 2012 London 50 m freestyle S8 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m backstroke S8 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m medley 2012 London 100 m freestyle S8 2012 London 400 m freestyle S8 World Championships (LC) 2013 Montreal 50 m freestyle S8 2013 Montreal 100 m freestyle S8 2015 Glasgow 50m freestyle S8 2015 Glasgow 100m freestyle S8 2015 Glasgow 100m backstroke S8 2015 Glasgow 4 × 100m freestyle relay 34 points 2013 Montreal 400 m freestyle S8 2015 Glasgow 4 × 100m medley relay 34 points 2015 Glasgow 400m freestyle S8 2015 Glasgow 100m butterfly S8 Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow 100 m freestyle S8

Personal

Maddison Gae Elliott was born on 3 November 1998 in Newcastle, New South Wales.^[3][4] She has right side cerebral palsy as a result of a neonatal stroke, and was diagnosed with the condition when she was four years old.^[3] In addition to swimming, she participated in athletics, and by 2010 held six Australian age group classification records.^[5] In 2016, she was living in Gillieston Heights, New South Wales, and a year 12 student at Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College. She has an older sister, younger sister and younger brother.^[3][6]

Swimming

Elliott was originally an S8 classified swimmer but in 2017 she was reclassified as S9, a classification for athletes with less physical impairment.^[7][3] She is a member of Nuswim Swimming Club,^[5] started swimming when she was six months old,^[5] and commenced competitive swimming in 2009. She made her national team debut that same year at the Youth Paralympic Games, where she won five gold medals.^[3]

 

Elliott at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

By 2010, Elliott held three Australian age group classification records,^[5] and the 2010 New South Wales Multi-Class Long Course Swimming Championships, she had five first-place finishes.^[5] She represented Australia at the 2011 Oceania Paralympic Championships, and later that year competed in the Canberra hosted Australian Multi-Class Age Swimming Championships. At that event, she won a bronze, five silver and three gold medals.^[3] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London in swimming.^[8][9]

On 31 August 2012 at the London Aquatics Centre, Elliott slashed 23 seconds off her personal best time to win a bronze medal in the S8 400 m freestyle. She went on to win silver in S8 50 m freestyle, bronze in the S8 100 m Freestyle, and gold in the Women's 4x100 m Freestyle Relay – 34 Points.^[10][11] She thus became, at age 13, the youngest ever Australian to win a Paralympic medal, surpassing Anne Currie, or a gold medal, a record formerly held by Elizabeth Edmondson.^[12][13] Afterwards, she met with Prince Harry and gave him a Lizzie the Frill Neck Lizard,^[14] the mascot of the Australian Paralympic Committee and Australia's Paralympic Teams.^[15] This resulted in the Australian Chef de Mission, Jason Hellwig, officially presenting Lizzie to the Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), Lord Coe, who gave him a Mandeville in return.^[16]

In November 2012, Elliott and Rheed McCracken, the youngest members of the 2012 Paralympic Team, were together named the Paralympic Junior Athlete of the Year.^[17] She won gold medals in the Women's 50 m and 100 m Freestyle S8 events and a silver medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S8 at the August 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada,^[18][19] and was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."^[4]

 

Elliott interviewed after being named 2012 Junior Athlete of the Year at the Australian Paralympian of the Year ceremony

Elliott won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the women's 100 m S8 freestyle in a world record time of 1:05.32, breaking the record set by Jessica Long in 2012.^[20]

At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, Elliott won the gold medals in the women's 50 m freestyle S8, women's 100 m freestyle S8 in a world record time of 1.04.71, women's 100 m backstroke S8 and women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points, silver medals in the women's 400 m freestyle S8 and women's 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 points and a bronze medal in the women's 100 m butterfly S8.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

 

Elliott at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

Her success at the IPC World Championships led to her being awarded Swimming Australia's 2015 Paralympic Swimmer of the Year.^[26] In November 2015, she was awarded the New South Wales Institute of Sport Regional Athlete of the Year.^[27]

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she was a member of the team that won gold in world record time in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay 34 points, alongside Ellie Cole, Lakeisha Patterson and Ashleigh McConnell.^[28] She won her first individual Paralympic gold medal in winning the 100 metre freestyle S8 in a Paralympic record time of 1:04.73, and followed this with gold in the 50 metre freestyle S8 in a world record time of 29.73. In addition, she won silver medals in the 100 metre backstroke S8 and 4 x 100 Medley Relay 34 points.^[29] After Elliot's success in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she was crowned early December as the Australian Paralympic Female Athlete of the Year, adding to her impressive list of accolades.

In 2017, Elliott was reclassified to S9 and subsequently was not selected on Australian teams at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and World Para Swimming Championships. In 2019, Elliott reported that she was subjected to cyber bullying as a result of classification issues.^[30]

Recognition

 

2012 Australian Paralympic Team official photo

• 2012 – Australian Paralympic Junior Athlete of the Year
• 2014 – Medal of the Order of Australia
• 2015 – Paralympic Swimmer of the Year at the Swimming Australia awards.
• 2015 – NSWIS Regional Athlete of the Year
• 2015 – NSW Athlete of the Year with a Disability^[31]
• 2016 – Paralympic Swimmer of the Year at the Swimming Australia awards.^[32]
• 2016 – NSWIS Female Athlete of the Year, NSWIS Regional Athlete of the Year, NSWIS Junior Athlete of the Year^[33]
• 2016 – Australian Paralympic Female Athlete of the Year.^[34]

References

1. "Golden girls win relay and break world record". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
2. . Swimming Australia News, 13 April 2016. Archived from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
3. "Maddison Elliott". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
4. "Australia Day honours list 2014: in full". Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
5. Kelly, Lauren (11 November 2010). . Herald Sun. Melbourne, Australia. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
6. "Bishop Tyrrell Students Competing on the Global Sports Stage". Newcastle Anglican website. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
7. Greenwood, Emma (18 September 2017). "Paralympic golden girl Maddison Elliott to miss world championships after reclassification". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
8. . Australian Paralympic Committee. 10 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
9. "Cowdrey leads Paralympic swim team". ABC Grandstand Sport – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 13 July 2012.
10. . Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
11. "Maddison Elliott". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
12. Wald, Tom (1 September 2012). "Swimmer Maddison Elliott becomes Australia's youngest Paralympic medallist at 13 years old". Fox Sports. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
13. Paxinos, Stathi (27 August 2012). "Time for a young talent to shine". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
14. . News Limited. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
15. . Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 27 April 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
16. . Around the Rings. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
17. "Freney named Australia's Paralympian of the Year". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
18. . Swimming Australia News. 15 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
19. . Swimming Australia News. 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
20. . 26 July 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
21. . Swimming Australia News, 14 July 2015. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015.
22. "Six golds and one world record for Ukraine at Glasgow 2015". International Paralympic Committee News, 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
23. . Swimming Australia News, 18 July 2015. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
24. "Two world records for China, four more fall at Glasgow 2015". International Paralympic Committee8 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
25. "Seven golds in seven days for Dias at Glasgow 2015". International Paralympic Committee News, 19 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
26. . Swimming Australia News, 5 September 2015. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
27. . New South Wales Institute of Sport. 20 November 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
28. . Rio Paralympics Official Results. Rio Paralympics. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
29. . Rio Paralympics Official site. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
30. Meehan, Michelle (27 March 2019). "It's been absolute hell': Paralympic champion Maddison Elliott reveals dark struggle". News.com.au. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
31. Besley, John (22 February 2016). "Curzon Hall hosts NSW Sports Awards". Northern District Times. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
32. . Swimming Australia website. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
33. "OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC STARS SCOOP MAJOR NSW INSTITUTE OF SPORT AWARDS Home / NSWIS News / Olympic and Paralympic stars scoop major NSW I". NSWIS website. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
34. "Six inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame". Australian Paralympic Committee. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2023.

External links

 

Wikinews has related news:

• Prince Harry meets Maddison Elliott, youngest Australian Paralympic gold medallist ever

 

Wikinews has related news:

• 2012 Australian Paralympic swim team announced

• Maddison Elliott at the International Paralympic Committee
• at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Maddison Elliott at Paralympics Australia
• at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 October 2016)
• Maddison Elliott on Twitter