AIS scholarship holders have enjoyed incredible results and outstanding success competing at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

Past and present AIS athletes made a significant contribution to the medal tally of 17 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze. 

Among the top performing athletes and gold medallists from the AIS were Heath Francis and Evan O’Hanlon in athletics and Matt Cowdrey, Peter Leek and Katrina Porter in swimming.

AIS athletes featured amongst some of the most memorable highlights of the Beijing Paralympics including:

Matt Cowdrey (8 medals, 5 gold and 3 silver)

At just 19, Matt Cowdrey could be dubbed Australia’s ‘superfish’ in the pool after claiming his fifth gold medal and fourth world record at the Beijing Paralympics.

He became the most successful athlete at the Beijing Paralympics starring in the pool by winning eight medals, five of them gold, in the S9 class of the men’s 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley, 100m and 50m freestyle and men’s 4 x 100 metres.

Cowdrey faced one of heaviest workload of the Australian Paralympic athletes by competing in eight swimming events.
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.
‘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.'

An arm amputee from birth, Matt does not consider himself as disabled. ‘It has not stopped me doing anything, except maybe swinging off monkey bars when I was five,’ Cowdrey said.

Matt is now ranked among the greats having already excelled on the world stage with multiple gold-medal performances at the Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

He names his mum and dad amongst his biggest fans and heroes for taking him to swimming training at 4am for six years.
Cowdrey revealed his Mum swims laps every morning – even in the dead of winter in an unheated pool.

‘She’s a crazy lady but she’s one of the reasons I pursued swimming and not soccer or running. I always felt comfortable in the water.’

Heath Francis (3 gold)

AIS scholarship holder Heath Francis became Australia’s version of Usain Bolt after claiming his third gold medal in the amputee class of prestigious 100m sprint.

The veteran of three Paralympics brought home three gold medals after blitzing the field in the 100m, 200m and 400m of the T38 sprint events.

Francis beat Papua New Guinea’s Francis Kompaon and Brazil’s Yohansson Nascimento to win in a personal best time of 11.05 seconds.

He was thrilled by the win in the 100m.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Francis said.
‘I got out well and probably tightened up coming home.
‘But I stayed in front the whole way. I am just so happy with the result.

Francis once again paid tribute to his AIS coach Iryna Dovoskina.

‘She has been absolutely fantastic in ensuring my preparation has been spot on,’ Francis said.

‘It could never have achieved what I have in Beijing without Iryna.’

Peter Leek (8 medals, 3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)

Peter Leek produced an incredible result by smashing a world record in the SM8 class of the 200m individual medley claiming his second gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics.

The teenager from St Mary's in NSW who turned 20 after the Paralympics end, has been collecting the medals.
He blitzed the field in the SM8 class of the 200m individual medley. He was already more than two seconds clear of the field after the turn of the first 50m. He held strong form in the backstroke and breaststroke laps. Further ahead of the field on the final freestyle leg he was well on his way to breaking another world record.

He broke his own world record in the incredible time of 2 minutes 20.92 seconds. He had set the existing world record of 2 minutes 25.51.

He was confident with his preparation leading into the race.

‘Well I knew tonight that I could go out and break (the record),’ Leek said.

‘The only race was against myself tonight—my own personal demons—and I feel like I've won that race tonight fair and square.

‘All I wanted at these Paralympic Games was good times,’ he said.

Evan O’Hanlon (3 gold)

Evan O’Hanlon enjoyed great success in the T38 sprint events of the Beijing Olympics winning gold in the 100m, 200m and men’s 4 x 100m relay.

O'Hanlon, under pressure to repeat his world record-breaking run in the 100m streaked ahead of the field in the first 50m to cross the line in a blistering 21.98 seconds.

He won the T38 100m in a world record time of 10.96 seconds becoming the first T38 athlete to go under the 11 second mark.
O’Hanlon was elated by the win.

'I got off reasonably well, but it wasn't a perfect start,' O'Hanlon said.

'I just accelerated. I knew I could get it as long as I had the first 20m. I thought then I had it in the bag.'

Katrina Porter (1 gold)

Katrina Porter qualified fastest for the women's 100m backstroke (S7) final, beating the world record by over a second in a time of 1 minute 24.44 seconds.

Porter then powered home in the final to break that record again and winning the gold medal in 1 minute 24.3 seconds.
She enjoyed support competing in front of her parents and extended family at the Beijing Paralympics.

She recalls her preparation and form going into the 100m backstroke.
‘My goal was to swim a time of 1:24:9,’ Porter said.

‘I felt great in the warm up to the race and I thought that anything is possible.’