“I was pretty excited when I found out it was a record!”

Proud Indigenous athlete Amanda Reid had one goal for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics: to break her own record and win gold for Australia in track cycling.

Spoiler alert – she smashed it!

“Keep powering through”

24-year-old Amanda, who has cerebral palsy and an intellectual impairment, tells us she was feeling a bit “wobbly and shaky” right before her C1-C3 500m Time Trial victory. “I was just going to do the best I could in my race and that’s all I could ask.”

She adds, “When I got out of the gate I was like, ‘Oh, this is very wobbly, body – get it together!’ And then I just had to hold on really tight and just keep powering through.”

And power through she sure did, winning Australia’s seventh gold medal of the Games, and smashing the record she’d previously set at the same time!

“I had to wait until I stopped to be told what my time was,” says Amanda. “I was pretty excited when I found out it was a record!”

Tokyo 2020 is the champion’s third Paralympics – but only her second on the track. Amanda swam for Australia at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, coming in fifth in the 100m breaststroke.

A few years later she found a teeny-tiny cycling jersey from her youth and decided to give cycling another shot – and the rest is history!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Amanda Reid (@amandareid96)

Setting the best example

Amanda says she’s “very, very” happy to have achieved her goal, and super proud to represent her mob – the Wemba Wemba and Guring-gai people – on the world stage. And all while wearing a special Indigenous design, ‘The Journey’ on her racing suit!

Amanda is one of just one of three Indigenous athletes at the Paralympic Games this year.

“It’s important for me to set an example to other young Indigenous people,” she says, “and that they know there are other sports out there they can try.”

In 2017, Amanda was named NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year in recognition of her amazing achievements as an athlete, and for the work she does mentoring young athletes with a disability and young Aboriginals in care.

Mentoring young Indigenous children is very close to Amanda’s heart. “I didn’t get that opportunity when I was at school,” she explains. “It’s important for Indigenous kids both with and without a disability to be mentored and to have that support.”

“In the short time I’ve been working with these kids I’ve seen them engage more with education and with sport, which is pretty cool to see.”

Next stop, Paris

After jetting back home for some well-deserved rest (we hope!), Amanda plans to continue with her mentoring role and jump right back into training.

“I’m going to continue training hard for 2024, where I definitely want to lower my time even further and defend my title in Paris,” she says.

We’ll be there cheering you on, Amanda!

Main mage: Mathilde Dusol.