16 Sep 2008

Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) swimmer Matt Cowdrey is Australia’s new superfish after collecting his fifth gold medal and fourth world record at the Beijing Paralympics.

The combination of Cowdrey (backstroke), Ric Pendleton (breastroke), Peter Leek (butterfly) and Ben Austin (freestyle) clinched the 4x100m medley relay – the final event of the games swimming program.

Their time knocked just over 10 seconds off the world mark, set by Australians at the world championships in 2006.

For Cowdrey, this is his fifth gold medal from eight events – the other three being silver.

“This medal we really wanted. We’ve been strong in this race over the past four years,” Cowdrey said.

“But it wasn’t just about the four swimmers who swam the final but also the heat swimmers, Ricardo Moffati, Daniel Bell, Sam Bramham and Matt Levy.”

The Australian Government, through the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), is a long-time supporter of our Paralympians.

During the current Paralympic cycle, the ASC has worked strategically with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) to plan for a successful Beijing Paralympic campaign.

This partnership has included over $26 million in ASC funding dedicated to assisting Australia’s Paralympic athletes in their sporting endeavours.