By Abbey Cannan
Noosa Council and Sunshine Coast Council hosted the region’s official athletes welcome home celebration on Tuesday 17 September at Foundation Square park in Maroochydore.
Noosa Mayor Frank Wilkie said, “Each of us understand that tens of thousands of people aspire to be an Olympic standard athlete but only a very select few make it to the Games.”
“So just as your medal haul was extremely impressive, the fact that you were even there is an extraordinary achievement in its own right.
“So we’re here to pay tribute to your tenacity, your talent, your persistence, your grit, and your performance over in Paris. Because you have truly made each and everyone one of us proud.”
Paralympic track cyclist Korey Boddington won a gold medal and a Games record in the C4-C5 1000m time trial in his Paralympic Games debut.
Telling his story to Paralympics Australia journalist Gennie Sheer, Korey said he was playing cricket when he was 11 with his mates at Alexandra Headland when he hit a ‘six and out’ and ran across the road to retrieve the ball only to be hit by a van with a bull bar. Some local surf lifesavers intervened to save his life before he was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
A few years later he crashed during a motocross race, sustaining a brain injury that put him in a coma for several weeks and caused his loss of shoulder function.
Despite all of this, Korey has achieved greatness while wearing a smile on his face.
“How good is this Sunshine Coast? Thanks for showing up,” he said to the crowd in Maroochydore.
“I still feel like I’m sleeping. You know when you’re sleeping and then you have a really good dream and you wake up? Well mine’s still going and I’m having a great time.”
Korey collected a bronze medal in the mixed team sprint C1-5.
“The individual gold was unbelievable because it’s all your hard work coming together and paying off. The team bronze was just doing it with the boys and coming together and working as a team… it was unreal,” he said.
“The French were so loud, they were going crazy and then when I crossed the line they just went dead silent. I definitely silenced the crowd.”
He had some words of encouragement for the kids saying, “I was just like you kids sitting here, well maybe over at Cotton Tree because this wasn’t here. If I can do it, all of you can do it, that’s for sure.”
Local Olympian Duncan Armstrong led the welcome home ceremony to an excited and proud crowd.
“Queenslanders contributed to its largest contingent of athletes with 142 representing Australia in the Paris Olympics out of the 460 Paris Olympians,” Duncan said.
“Now Queenslanders competed in 29 sports and won medals in 10 of them. Forty Queenslanders won medals, 17 of them won a medal on their Olympic debut. Our state recorded the most gold with 11 out of the 18 won by Australia. Simply incredible stuff.
“At the Paras in Paris, 49 Queenslanders competed for us in the Aussie team of 160. Twenty-eight Queenslanders won medals in five different sports, with nine of those medals being won by first time Paralympians. The talented team equalled Queensland’s highest overall medal tally this century.”
Families had the chance to meet and greet their local heroes and enjoyed a free BBQ thanks to the Mooloolaba Lions Club.
The event was produced by Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Council in conjunction with the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia.
Although Noosa’s golden girl Alexa Leary couldn’t make it to the event, she spoke to ABC journalists when touching down back in Australia.
“I’m feeling so good. I’m really proud of myself and I just love the fact that my family and my boyfriend came with me because it just made it even better,” Alexa said.
“It’s still just trying to sink in my head that I did it. That’s a big thing that I’ve wanted since I was little. So I just couldn’t believe that I had done it.”
