Daniel Michael won Australia’s first ever individual boccia medal at a Paralympic Games when he claimed bronze in the Mixed Individual BC3 event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
15-year-old Daniel attended at a Muscular Dystrophy camp in 2010 where he was first introduced to boccia. It was here his journey began. He started training and began competing, going on to win junior state and national titles.
Daniel then teamed up with his ramp assistant Ashlee McClure and in 2013 he made his Australian representative debut at the 2013 Asia and Oceania Regional Championships, where he placed 5th in the mixed individual BC3 and qualified for the 2014 BISFed Boccia World Championships in China.
The next few years where a whirlwind. Daniel competed at multiple international competitions and improved his world ranking to 15, which earned him a qualification spot for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
In Rio, Daniel became the first Australian to compete in the sport at the Paralympics since Sydney 2000.
At the 2018 World BISFed Boccia World Championships Daniel won silver in the Mixed Pairs BC3, alongside fellow NSWIS athlete Spencer Cotie, and Bronze in the Individual BC3.
Selected on to his second Australian Paralympic Team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Daniel competed in the Mixed Individual BC3 and the Mixed Pairs BC3. Daniel triumphed over Great Britain’s Scott McCowan in the Individual BC3 bronze medal match, becoming the first Australian to medal in the sport in 25 years and the first to win an individual boccia medal at a Paralympic Games.