Aimee’s prized ribbon for the most amazing race

When Amiee Fisher lines up on the starting line for the Women’s 400m T54 wheelchair race at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the green and gold ribbon she’ll tie in her won’t only acknowledge her sporting roots, but also her resilience and adaptability.

Before suffering a life-changing accident at gymnastics training in 2017 when a fall left her paralysed from the hips down, Fisher, then aged 16, was actively involved in gymnastics, dancing, state-level athletics, and aerobics.

Now, as the 25-year-old prepares to make her debut in Australia’s battle colours at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium, she explained the message behind the ribbon.

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“When I competed as a gymnast, we always used to wear custom ribbons in our club colours made by our coach when we competed,” said the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder.

“My gymnastics club and my old coach have made me my very own green and gold ribbon, so I’ll be wearing that as well on race day just to honour that part of my journey and yeah, part of my sporting journey to get to this point as well.

“It’ll be really special to take a piece of my sporting past with me.”

Fisher, who first heard about wheelchair racing a month before her accident when a decorated Paralympian visited her school in Newcastle to speak about the sport, said 18-years after first stepping onto the gymnastics competition floor, the sport provided her with the foundation needed to give her all at the Commonwealth Games.

“We may do multiple races on one day, or you’ve got a heat and a final,” she said of a wheelchair racer’s schedule. “[So,] being able to put in that dedication to training, pick yourself up, keep it going, move towards those goals and physically as well, it’s the same sorts of principles [for gymnastics and wheelchair racing] at the end of the day . . . that strength and power and being able to apply all that to the sport that you’re doing.”

Fisher – who works as a sonographer (someone who takes ultrasounds) – also revealed she focussed her sights on wheelchair racing while she lay in the ICU at Royal North Shore Hospital.

“Christie Dawes, an Australian Paralympian, had come to my school maybe a month before my injury,” she recalled for the NSWIS Lights Up Glasgow social media series. “She bought a chair in and she spoke to us, and I remember going home and thinking how absolutely incredible cool a sport [it was] . . . and never pictured myself trying it.

“It just happened that the timing of my injury aligned six weeks later with the Summer Down Under series that we compete in every year with wheelchair sports and the mentoring clinic they have in Sydney is part of that.

“So out I went for the day and jumped in a race chair six weeks later and gave it a go. I did a few laps around the track with Jessica Frotten [Canadian Paralympian] and Kurt Fearnley [Australian sporting great] and loved it.”

Another Aussie sports legend Fisher met that day was Louise Sauvage OAM, who would eventually become her coach and mentor. Sauvage, who won a phenomenal 13 Paralympic medals – nine of them gold  – has taught Fisher to ‘run her race’.

“Lou was the one actually helping me in the chair and getting me all set up with the gloves and the equipment,” said Fisher. “I didn’t look back . . .

“She brings incredibly special things to the table, having those both perspectives of having been an athlete and now a coach. She is a great person, a great coach . . . very personable and so easy to connect with.

“Lou has so much knowledge and experience, it’s incredible to be able to work under one of the greats of the sport. [The best advice she’s given me] comes back to ‘’just run your own race . . . you own it, and you deserve that spot on the track so just go out there and do your absolute best. Have fun, give it everything’.”

And that is what Fisher, who besides the green and gold ribbon in her hair, will be easy to spot thanks to her signature  light blue Aqua race chair, apparently the only one of its kind in the world.

“I’ll be sporting it at the games with my brand new helmet with an Australian flag on the back and the holographic stripes on top,” she said with a smile. “So, I’ll be super easy to pick for all of my friends and family watching in the stands and on the TV at home.”

When Fisher settles on the starting line, she plans to do so in peace before exploding into a blur of energy and force as she hits an astonishing 26km/h – her top speed in a race.

“I want my mind to be clear and quiet,” she said of being on the starting line. “At that point, it’s the time just to trust in the work that we’ve put in and focus on the plan for the race.

“I think when I race, I tend to sort of block all of the noise of the crowd and the commentary in the stadium out. So, crossing that finish line will be really exciting just to let all of that atmosphere come in and really enjoy that moment and the culmination of all the hard work and the journey.

“”And it’s going to be really special knowing as well that I’ll be able to look up in the stands and see my friends and family for the first time at an international comp there with me, as well as the time to reflect on all of the journey to this point and as well all the people at home that have been watching and celebrating as well.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS