Angela Ballard

EVENTS:  Women's T53 400m, T53 800m

AGE:  42 (DOB 6 June 1982)

COACH:  Jamie Green

STATE: ACT

AUSTRALIAN TEAM DEBUT: 1998 World Para-Athletics Championships

PERSONAL BESTS: 400m 54.17 (27 May 17), 800m 1:47.24 (28 May 17), 1500m 3:23.40 (28 Jun 15)

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Ballard is a world-class competitor with vast experience and was selected for a record sixth Paralympic Games for Tokyo and a fourth Commonwealth Games last year. But extraordinary Angie will travel to Paris in July 2023 to compete at her ninth consecutive World Para Athletics Championships. She has competed at every championships (first in 1998) except the first held in 1994 when she was aged 12.

In Tokyo in 2021 Angie just missed the podium in the T53 400m, placing fifth (57.61). She was also seventh in the 800m (1:52.22) and 100m (17.43). Angie was pleased with her results, particularly the 400m.
"Fourth is huge for me. Everyone has had a tough time lately and after Rio I was prepared for the hard stuff and another great four years. I've learned that different hard stuff can come at you - it's been pretty horrible some of the years, but I still love what I do,” she said.
"So coming here and getting a bit closer to where I was both in terms of the world and my joy for racing has just been huge. It makes me both hungry and excited that this is where I'm at."

For her fourth Commonwealth Games last year in Birmingham, Angie had to steup to a less preferred distance – the 1500m. But she was equal to the challenge placing second to teammate Madison de Rozario. It was Angie’s third consecutive Commonwealth Games medal.

For Paris 2023, her ninth world championships, Angie placed 6th in the 400m and just missed the podium in the T53 800m placing 4th.

Angie Ballard’s leadership was recognised with her selection as an Australian Team Captain for the 2024 Paralympic, her 7th Games – the equal most by any Australian woman in athletics. In Paris she will contest the T53 400m and 800m events.

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When Angie was seven-years-old, she was involved in a near-fatal car accident that paralysed her. She recalls waking up on the side of the road unable to move after her father asked her to sit up. She spent six weeks in hospital before returning home to Canberra.  Angie commenced rehabilitation in Sydney the following year and, having been exposed to disability early (her brother has spina bifida), it wasn’t long before she adapted to life in a wheelchair.

Angie experimented with many sports after attending a Wheelchair Sports NSW camp, but ultimately credits her PE teacher with finding her competitive edge in wheelchair racing. Looking for new ways to challenge herself, she began competing soon after. 

Angie made her Australian team debut at the 1998 World Para-Athletics Championships, where she competed in the 100m to 800m and won dual gold in the relays. She made her Paralympic debut two years later in front of a home crowd in Sydney. A month after her 20th birthday she became world champion in the T54 100m. In Athens she was third in the same event, claiming her first Paralympic Games medal.
Over the next, nearly two decades, Angie has set world records, won world titles, Paralympic medals and Commonwealth Games gold. 

Two undoubted highlights were her three medals at the London Paralympics and two world titles in the women’s 200m T53 and women’s 400m T53 at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

Selected for Paris 2024 her career summary is:
Seven Paralympic Games, 8 medals
Nine World Championships, 12 medals (5 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze)
Four Commonwealth Games, 3 medals (1 gold, 2 silver)

@ 22 Aug 24 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au