Paralympic Games: From a bear attack survivor to a mine blast hero… meet the brave athletes to watch in Paris

After Australia’s incredible performance at the Olympic Games, attention now turns to the country’s Paralympic stars travelling to Paris.

Australia won 21 gold medals last time in Tokyo. Their best ever performance was 24 years ago in Sydney, when they topped the medal table with 63 gold medals.

Their performance in Paris could fall somewhere in the middle, if these impressive athletes perform at their best on the big stage.

Daily Mail Australia profiles the Australian stars who go to Paris and tells their incredible stories.

Curtis McGrath

Reigning para-canoeing medallist Curtis McGrath’s journey to the Paralympic Games began with a joke when he was placed on a stretcher after a mine explosion.

After losing both legs, the combat engineer joked, “I’m going to the Paralympics.”

“I knew my legs were gone and they weren’t coming back,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It was a traumatic day for everyone. If there’s anything I can say to ease that, that’s why I said it.”

Since then he has become Australia’s top paracanoeist, winning a total of three gold medals.

“The skills I learned in the military helped me to persevere, to keep going when things got tough and to be very resourceful,” added McGrath, 36.

Curtis McGrath is an Australian war hero and survivor of a mine explosion in Afghanistan

My Lin

Australian table tennis star Ma Lin was only five years old when his right arm was eaten by a brown bear during a family outing to a nearby zoo in China in the mid-1990s.

He was only five years old at the time of the attack and was lucky to survive, considering the amount of blood he lost during the attack.

“I thought he was my friend because I went to the zoo every week to feed him,” Ma Lin said.

‘So I decided to pet him, but I guess he wasn’t in a good mood that day.’

Remarkably, Ma Lin remained conscious and did not cry throughout the ordeal.

“I guess I was a little bit in shock,” he said. “But I didn’t cry. Not once.”

Ma Lin was a talented pianist for the attack, but focused on table tennis and had to teach himself to play left-handed, as he was naturally right-handed. He won gold for China in Beijing, London and Rio before leaving for Australia after moving Down Under.

Ma Lin lost his right arm after being attacked by a bear in China at the age of five

Madison de Rosario

Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario was diagnosed with a neurological condition called transverse myelitis, which affects the spinal cord, at the age of four.

Just 10 years after becoming wheelchair-bound, Rozario represented Australia as a teenager at the Beijing Olympics.

She was named Australia’s Paralympic Athlete of the Year after winning gold in the 800 metres and marathon in Tokyo.

De Rozario will carry her country’s flag in Paris, along with swimmer Brenden Hall.

Vanessa Laag

The reigning long jump champion, Low, 34, previously competed for Germany before moving to Australia in 2019.

She was only 15 years old when she fell off a busy platform in front of an oncoming train, causing Low to lose both legs, broken bones in her back and head injuries.

Low took up athletics two years later, joining the German team. She became Australian when she met and married fellow Paralympian Scott Reardon. They have a son, Matteo, who was born in June 2022.

German-born Vanessa Low fled to Australia after marrying her husband Scott Reardon

Tristan Knowles

Knowles, the captain of the Australian wheelchair basketball team, was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of nine.

As a result, his left leg was amputated above the knee, but at age 12 the cancer returned and he had to undergo 22 rounds of chemotherapy and a lung lobectomy.

After going into remission, he began his wheelchair basketball career as a teenager and led his country to six different Paralympic Games.

Ameera Lee

Lee came into contact with archery at a late age when her 15-year-old son Huthaifa encouraged her to try the sport in 2016.

The single mother, who has multiple sclerosis, will be part of Australia’s largest para-archery team in 40 years.

Chris Bond

Bond was 19 years old when he woke from a coma to find that he had lost his left hand, right fingers and his legs. He had survived a bacterial infection and acute promyelocytic leukemia.

The Steelers captain joined a wheelchair rugby team and became one of the best players in the world just six years after waking from a coma.

He led the Steelers during their glory days, when they won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in London and Rio, as well as a world championship.

Chris Bond is one of the greatest wheelchair rugby players of all time

Daniel Michel

Michel, 29, has muscular dystrophy and will represent Australia in boccia, a sport that has no equal at the Olympic Games.

He won bronze in Tokyo, but is being supported for the main prize battle in Paris.

Michel became the first athlete to compete in the sport for Australia in 16 years when he represented his country in Rio.

Daniel Michel has represented Australia in boccia at two Paralympic Games

Alexa Leary

Leary was on her way to a promising career in triathlon when a cycling accident in 2021 changed her life.

The accident left her with permanent brain damage, blood clots and broken bones, but miraculously she learned to walk and talk again. To aid her rehabilitation, she took up swimming.

Just two years later she joined the Australian para-swimming team and secured a place in Paris with gold and silver in the 100 and 50 metres at the World Aquatics Championships.