Part II: NSWIS 44 ready for Paralympic medal haul in Rio

Part II of our Paralympic preview sees Equestrian, Goalball, Rowing and Sailing come under the spotlight. Check out our athletes who will be going for gold in Rio.

READ PART I HERE

READ PART III HERE

Equestrian: There is just one NSWIS rider at the Paralympic Games in 2016 and that is Lisa Martin, a successful international dressage competitor and coach.

Growing up in Scone, the horse capital of Australia, Martin was born into a family of stock horse breeders. At the age of 28 she came off a young horse, which saw her tibia split and crush the bottom of her foot. She then caused more damage just six weeks later after slipping over while her leg was still in a cast.

Now she has just 15 per cent movement in the leg after her ankle was fused. She makes her debut in Rio.

Our Star: Lisa Martin (Para-Equestrian) (Click on the name to find out more about the athlete!)

Goalball: Silence on the court!

NSWIS goalball player Jenny Blow is trading the trendy scenes of Sydney’s Newtown for the streets of Rio as she contests her second Paralympic Games with the Australian goalball team.

The sport is exclusively for visually impaired athletes, where the object is to roll the ball into the opponents’ goal, while the opposing players attempt to block the ball with their bodies.

The balls have bells inside them to help orientate the players, which means there is complete silence enforced on spectators to allow competitors to concentrate and react to the ball.

Our Star: Jenny Blow (Click on the name to find out more about the athlete!)

Rowing: Among the four NSWIS rowers ready to hit the water in Rio, there is one man whose name will strike fear into his opponents, Erik Horrie.

Better known as ‘Hat Trick’, Horrie was named Australia’s male rower of the year this year and enters the Paralympics following an unbeaten run that began after he won silver at the 2012 London Games, only ending when he placed third at a world cup regatta in Poznan, Poland in June. He slashed the Arms and Shoulders Single Scull world record by 10.5 seconds in 2013 and now has his sights set on gold.

Joining Horrie are a pair of 2014 World Championship silver medallists in Kathleen Murdoch (LTA Mixed Coxed Four B4) and Jeremy McGrath (LTA Mixed Four and LTA Mixed Two).

Doctor Jo Burnand, the wife of Olympic rower Craig Muller, also joins the NSWIS rowing contingent as coxswain for the LTA Mixed Coxed Four.

Our Stars: Erik Horrie (Men’s Single Scull Arms & Shoulders), Jeremy McGrath (LTA Mixed Four and LTA Mixed Two), Jo Burnand (LTA Mixed Coxed Four (Coxswain)), Kathleen Murdoch (LTA Mixed Coxed Four B4) (Click on a name to find out more about the athlete!)

Sailing: The London gold medal winning NSWIS duo of Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch return in a bid to make it back-to-back victories in the Two person SKUD 18.

They’re an unlikely pair that met off the back of a cold call seven years ago.

Prior to London, Tesch was a five-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball and led the Gliders to silver in 2000 and 2004, bronze in 2008. After competing in the 2009 Sydney to Hobart, Tesch was contacted by Beijing silver medallist Fitzgibbon who had been impressed with her form in the annual yacht race.

They joined forces and won gold in London.

Joining them on the Australian sailing team will be Jonathan Harris who made his Olympic debut at the age of 56 in 2012.

Our Stars: Liesl Tesch & Daniel Fitzgibbon (Two person SKUD 18), Jonathan Harris (Three person Sonar) (Click on a name to find out more about the athlete!)