Rheed McCracken

EVENTS:  100m, 200m, 800m T34

AGE:  26 (20 Jan 1997)

COACH:  Louise Sauvage

STATE: NSW

PARALYMPIC HISTORY: London, Rio, Tokyo

PERSONAL BESTS: 100m 14.79, 200m 26.38, 800m 1:40.31

BIOGRAPHY

Having only started wheelchair racing two years before making his Paralympic debut in London, Rheed McCracken has gone on to compile an impressive wheelchair racing career, with 12 global medals and currently 30 Australian records. At six of the last seven consecutive global meets, Rheed has won silver in the T34 100m. 

Rheed was in June selected for his fifth consecutive World Para Athletics Championships to be held in Paris in July 2023.

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Born with cerebral palsy, which causes extreme tightness in his leg muscles, forcing them to internally rotate, Rheed displayed determination and passion for sport from a young age. Before discovering wheelchair racing, he participated in the ambulant 100m, 200m, discus, shot put and long jump at his home club, West Bundaberg Little Athletics.
Rheed was 13-years-old when the strain of ambulant sport caught up to him, and following multiple surgeries, he decided to begin using a wheelchair. Still determined to pursue a career in athletics, Rheed attended a junior development camp, but it was a chance meeting with Channel 7 media personality, David Koch, that would propel him into Paralympic stardom.

Seated next to ‘Kochie’ on a plane, the two struck up a conversation about his longtime sporting idol, Kurt Fearnley. Having known Kurt for years, Kochie offered Rheed the opportunity of a lifetime when he challenged him to compete in a wheelchair race in Sydney to meet his hero.

In 2011 Rheed debuted for Australia at the IWAS World Games in Sharjah, where he won one gold and four silver medals to qualify for the London Paralympic Games the following year. These achievements signalled a strong Paralympic campaign for Rheed, who won silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m, leading him to be named the APC Junior Athlete of the Year, alongside star swimmer, Maddison Elliott.

At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Rheed put up another solid performance, medalling in both his events. Trying his hand at middle-distance racing, he crossed for third in the 800m.

Rheed was in the best form of his life in the leadup to London, breaking the world record over 100m in Switzerland in June 2017. He clocked 14.92 to eclipse the record held by Tunisia’s Walid Ktila. 

Selected for the 2017 World Para Athletics World Championships, Rheed maintained his podium record, with two medals. Clocking 15.40 in the T34 100m he secured second place. In the 200m he won bronze and missed a medal in the 800m by just half a second.

At the 2019 world championships Rheed again won silver in the T34 100m and was fifth in the 800m. 
He negotiated the limited competition opportunities during the COVID effected years to be selected for his third Paralympic team in Tokyo, where he clocked his fastest ever 100m time at a Games/championships of 15.37 to place second in the T34 100m, claiming his 12 global medals. 

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Hailing from Bundaberg on the North Queensland coast, Rheed races with a superman logo taped under his chair in honour of his late friend and wheelchair racer, Tyson Cooper. He carries the Superman logo with him to symbolically fulfil Tyson’s Paralympic dreams, and in a twist of fate, won his first Paralympic medal on what would have been Tyson’s 23rd birthday.

Rheed’s main goal in life is to become a successful Paralympian. To him, this means more than just winning gold, but also to be remembered for giving it a “red hot crack”. His hobbies include fishing, watching television and listening to music. One of Rheed’s heroes is five-time Paralympian Kurt Fearnely. Rheed rates watching Fearnley win the T54 Marathon at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics as another of his sporting highlights.

@ 22 June 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au