Australia at the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap


Australia participated at the first and only Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap held in Madrid, Spain from 15–22 September 1992. The Games followed the 1992 Summer Paralympics held in Barcelona, Spain.
1600 athletes from 75 countries from competed in 5 sports – athletics, basketball, futsal, swimming and table tennis. Australian Team comprised 51 athletes and 18 officials. It competed in all sports except table tennis.
Australia finished first on the medal tally with 31 medals – 13 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze medals. Russell Torrance was the male team captain and Sarah-Jane Schulze was the women's team captain.
Swimmer Joseph Walker won nine gold medals and newspaper reports likened his medal success to multiple Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz. Simmers Joshua Hofer and Rene Hardenbol won five gold medals. Women's basketball team known as the Pearls won the gold medal.
When the athletes from Madrid arrived home they were specifically invited and enjoyed the impressive public reception in Sydney. Marie Little described what this meant to those who were involved in the Madrid competition:
I don’t think any participant will experience a similar feeling ever – the superb Fairstar dinner and the unbelievable Tickertape Parade were mind blowing – my heart was pumping, my eyes misty, my throat choked – in the crowd British Airways staff, bankers and paper sellers, little kids and their mums and dads, people in wheelchairs and bouncing babies – bands and music, sunshine and cheers. Little concluded: ‘Thanks to all for thanking the Paralympians’.

Medalists

MedalNameSportEvent
AthleticsMen's Javelin

BasketballWomen's Event
SwimmingMen's 100 m Freestyle
SwimmingMen's 200 m Freestyle
SwimmingMen's 400 m Freestyle
SwimmingMen's 50 m Butterfly
SwimmingMen's 100 m Butterfly
SwimmingMen's 200 m Backstroke
SwimmingMen's 100 m Backstroke
, Joshua Hofer, Rene Hardenbol, Jason CooperSwimmingMen's 4 x 50 m Freestyle Relay
, Joshua Hofer, Rene Hardenbol, Jason CooperSwimmingMen's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
, Joshua Hofer, Rene Hardenbol, Jason CooperSwimmingMen's 4 x 50 m Medley Relay
, Joshua Hofer, Rene Hardenbol, Jason CooperSwimmingMen's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay
AthleticsWomen's Shot Put
AthleticsWomen's Discus
AthleticsMen's 1500 m
SwimmingMen's 100 m Freestyle
SwimmingMen's 200 m Breaststroke
SwimmingMen's 50 m Butterfly
SwimmingMen's 100 m Butterfly
SwimmingMen's 50 m Backstroke
SwimmingMen's 200 m Backstroke
, Stacey Smith, Brigid Bromhead, Sarah-Jane SchulzeSwimmingWomen's 4 × 100 m Freestyle
AthleticsMen's High Jump
AthleticsMen's Discus
AthleticsWomen's Javelin
AthleticsWomen's Long Jump
SwimmingMen's 200 m Freestyle
SwimmingMen's 400 m Freestyle
, Stacey Smith, Brigid Bromhead, Sarah-Jane SchulzeSwimmingWomen's 4 x 50 m Freestyle Relay
, Stacey Smith, Brigid Bromhead, Sarah-Jane SchulzeSwimmingWomen's 4 x 50 m Medley Relay

Administration

Chef de Mission – Marie Little, General Team Manager – Jan Sutherland, Administrator – Colleen Bennett, Media Director – Paul Griffiths

Doctor – Susan White, Physiotherapist – Barbara Denson
.

Events

Athletics

Athletics team: 12 athletes.

Women – Madelyn Ehlers, Kaye Freeman, Norma Koplick, Racquel Nugent, Anne Walsh

Men – Wayne Bauer, Anton Flavel, Paul Mitchell, Jason Newman, Michael Stevens, Russell Torrance, Wayne Wright

Coach – Scott Goodman, Robyn Hanson ; Manager – Wendy Ey
Results: Six athletes won medals with Anton Flavel winning one gold and two bronze medals.

Basketball

Basketball teams: 20 athletes.

Women – Lorraine Archer, Tanya Aitchison, Donna Burns, Gladys Delaney, Melissa Gallacher, Fiona Hinds, Annette Kelly, Tina Kenna, Christine Humphries, Alice Toogood Coach – Margaret Sheriff; Manager – Robyn Smith
Results: defeated France 48-27 ; defeated Greece 47 – 32 ; defeated Brazil 65 – 14 ; defeated Great Britain 60 – 19. Final – defeated Greece 53 – 21.
When the Australian women's basketball team won the gold medal, the Canberra Times reported that: ‘the women's 53-21 drubbing of Greece was Australia's first medal win in Olympic or Paralympic Basketball’.
Men – Michael Aitchison, Michael Glover, David Henry, Tony Hopewell, Mark Konings, John Lettice, Rodney Meddings, Lee Medwin, Dean Papworth, John Wright Coach – Mark Walker, Tony Guihot
Results: defeated Jordan 131-13 ; defeated Great Britain 65 – 20 ; lost Dominican Republic 54-111 ; lost 19-137 Puerto Rico. Team finished 7th.

Futsal

Futsal team: 10 athletes.

Team – Jurgen Berens, Stephen Choat, John Fitter, Mark Harvey, Rob Lewis, Luis Marcellino, Willy Moen, Raymond Neaves, John Ruiz, Tony Thompson Coaches – Terry Pearce, Jack De Cesco, Manager – Bruce Drake.
Results: defeated Czech and Slovak Republic 5-1 ; lost Germany 3-7 ; defeated Colombia 6-0 ; lost Greece 0-5.

Swimming

Swimming team: 9 athletes.

Women – Brigit Bromhead, Sarah Jane Schulze, Stacey Smith, Justine Van Eyssen

Men – Jason Cooper, Rene Hardenbol, Joshua Hofer, Tim Krahe, Joseph Walker

Coaches – John Boland, Mark Lucas ; Manager – Jill Gates
Results: Australia finished first on the swimming medal tally winning 23 medals – 11 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze medals. Joseph Walker won nine gold medals out of nine events which at the time was unmatched in Australia's Paralympic history. Joshua Hofer won eleven medals including five gold. Rene Hardenbol won seven medals including five gold. The Men's relay team won four gold medals in world record time. The women's relay team one a silver medal and two bronze medals.

Controversy

The most controversial dimension of the Madrid Games is their lack of formal recognition as an official Paralympic Games, even though the belief at the time was that the Madrid Games were part of the Summer Paralympic Games movement. For example, the Official Report by the Chef de Mission of the Australian team and AUSRAPID official, Marie Little, was entitled ‘Australian Paralympic Team Madrid’ and her opening comments reinforce the belief that the Madrid Games were part of the Paralympics: ‘The historical coming together of elite athletes with a disability Australian Team, albeit competing at two locations in the 1992 Summer Paralympics, Barcelona and Madrid, was a great achievement’. Furthermore, when the Queen's Birthday Awards were announced in 1993, the successes of athletes with an intellectually disability were acknowledged by OAMs with the dedication: ‘for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Paralympic Games, Madrid, 1992’. It is clear from these examples that Australian administrators, officials, competitors and media at the time assumed that the Madrid Games were part of the official Paralympic Games. Unfortunately the IPC does not officially recognise the Madrid Games and, consequently, does not acknowledge the competing athletes as Paralympians.