Australia's Paralympics medal ranking the lowest in 36 years

As the 2024 Paralympics came to a close in Paris yesterday evening, Australia’s medal tally of 18 gold, 17 silver and 28 bronze medals ranked as the nation’s lowest total in 36 years

Finishing in ninth position on the official medal table, Australia trailed China - which topped the competition with 94 gold medals - followed by the Great Britain with 49 and the USA with 36.

The performance, which followed Australia having finished fourth on the medal table during last month’s Olympics - its best result since Athens 2004 - has been attributed to a lack of funding.

Commenting on the result, Paralympics Australia Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin said while she was reluctant to focus on the medal table because it didn’t tell the story of the many achievements, she had long been warning that years of inequality in funding would result in a worse ranking.

Noting that winning a gold medal in Paralympic sport was “getting harder and harder” in the last few decades, McLoughlin told the Sydney Morning Herald “we had foreshadowed that this (lower ranking) would potentially happen and that we needed to do something about it,” she said. “They finally listened.”

The Federal Government this year announced it was doubling its investment in Paralympic sport, with an extra $54.9 million in funding allocated in the 2024/25 budget.

Before that, McLoughlin said funding was “absolutely” lacking, noting “there was a big gap and the government recognised that, and have come to the party.”

“We can now strategise around how we can make sure we use that investment to the best advantage, and just make sure we improve the athlete pipeline and identify opportunities in more sports.”

McLoughlin said Australia would be examining the successes of other countries, pointing to the Netherlands, which placed fourth on the medal table with only 84 athletes in Paris - half of Australia’s representation.

McLoughlin said athletes whose nations were less spread out than Australia benefited from proximity to venues and centralised training programs, adding “there’s work we need to do on how to try to build that pipeline and have those great opportunities, in spite of geographical isolation.

“It’s a lot harder for para-athletes to be centralised without the support network of home and family and job opportunities than for an able-bodied athlete.”

A reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Paralympics Australia President Alison Creagh previously said that after the 2024 Games, there would be a focus on fostering new talent and building teams for sports such as blind football and sitting volleyball. In Paris, Australia was not represented in five of the 22 sports.

Image: Paris' Stade de France, home of 2024 Olympics and Paralympic athletics. Credit: Georgie Maynard.