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Angela BallardEVENTS: Women's 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m T53 AGE: 41 (DOB 6 June 1982) COACH: Fred Periac STATE: ACT AUSTRALIAN TEAM DEBUT: 1998 World Para-Athletics Championships PERSONAL BESTS: 1500m 3:23.40 (28 Jun 2015) |
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BIOGRAPHYAngela 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. 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 will step back down to the 400m. + + + + + 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. 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 2023 her career summary is: @ 6 June 23 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au
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