When she runs in the Paris Paralympics, Walpiri teenager Telaya Blacksmith is hoping to win gold just like her hero Cathy Freeman.
Telaya, 16, is one of four Indigenous athletes representing Australia at this year's Games, along with Samantha Schmidt (athletics), Ruby Storm (swimming) and Amanda Reid (cycling).
It is the equal highest number of Indigenous athletes to feature in an Australian Paralympic Team since Warren Lawton (goalball), Donna Burns (basketball), Karl Feifar (athletics) and Tracy Barrell (swimming) competed at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona.
Telaya is originally from Lajamanu in the Northern Territory and now lives in Sydney, where she is honing her skills as a runner and is also a promising footballer with the Sydney Swans AFL Academy.
She holds Australian age records in the 100m, 200m and long jump, and is a 400m runner at the international level.
After she learned of her selection for Paris, Telaya told NITV that when she runs she goes hard every time.
"I know it will hurt at the end of the finish line, but afterwards, it feels good," she said.
"I'm thinking about my family and how I'm going to make them proud - and all my culture."
Telaya Blacksmith training for the Paralympics. Credit: Athletics Australia / Augusto Bizzi
“I represent my family every time I race and know that I am an inspiration for other young Aboriginal kids," she said.
Donning the green and gold has always been a goal for Wakawaka and Gubbi Gubbi woman Samantha Schmidt, since first watching the Paralympic Games as a child.
Samantha was introduced to athletics at the age of five, progressing from West Bundaberg Little Athletics to Bundaberg Athletic Club, and Jimboomba Athletic club.
She will compete in discus throw F38, a Paralympics designation signifying a low level impairment of the lower half of the body.
Samantha Schmidt at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. Credit: Athletics Australia
At her Paralympic debut in Japan, she finished 6th in the discus throw F38 with a throw of 30.26m.
Wiradjuri woman Ruby Storm is a rising star who likes to focus on the joy she gets from swimming, competing and being part of the Australian Dolphins.
“I just try and show everyone that ‘Hey, I can do this and don’t underestimate me’,” the 20-year-old said.
“I just focus on what I want to achieve to make myself proud, make my family proud and make my squad proud.”
Storm, who was scared of the water as a child, has earned the respect of her squad as a team player.
Of her five medals in Paralympic and World Championship competition, four have come as part of the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 team, including silver at Tokyo 2020 and at the Worlds in Manchester in 2023.
Ruby also claimed the bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly S14 in Tokyo.
Wemba Wemba and Guring-gai woman Amanda Reid is a two-time Paralympian whose career started in the swimming pool.
Aged just 15, she placed fifth in the 100m breaststroke at the London 2012 Paralympics.
In 2015 Amanda went back to cycling, one of several sports she’d been involved in before swimming.
Within just a few months, she broke the national C2 individual time trial record at the NSW Para-cycling Championships and then smashed the national record in the 3km individual pursuit at the 2016 Australian Para-cycling Championships.
Amanda, who has cerebral palsy and an intellectual impairment, established herself on the world cycling stage with silver in the 500m time trial at the 2016 Para Track World Championships, leading to her selection in the 2016 Australian Paralympic Games team.
At Rio, she won a silver medal in the 500m time trial combined classification C1-C2-C3.
Since Rio, Amanda’s success has continued, including breaking the world record at the 2019 Para Track World Championships.
She was selected for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, where she won a gold medal in the women’s 500m time trial C1-3 and broke the world record, making history by becoming the first Indigenous Australian to win a Paralympic gold medal in cycling.
Amanda also loves snowboarding and is a qualified Level 1 snowboard instructor.
