The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is celebrating the immense achievements of its  Paralympic athletes through a new exhibit highlighting medal-winning performances across past Paralympic Games.

The new display, situated in the AIS strength and conditioning gym in Canberra, profiles the medal successes and outstanding achievements of all AIS scholarship holders who have competed in Paralympic Games since 1988.

Some of Australia’s greatest athletes who are honoured in the exhibit include Michael Milton (alpine skiing), Louise Sauvage (wheelchair racing), and Amy Winters and Neil Fuller (athletics).

The AIS works closely with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) to fund and support the training and development of high performance Paralympic athletes, providing leading coaching and sport science expertise, and access to world-class training facilities.

AIS/APC athletes enjoyed tremendous success at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games helping Australia to finish fifth on the medal tally.

Top medal winners from the AIS included track and field athletes Heath Francis (three gold and one bronze) Evan O’Hanlon (three gold) and Christine Wolf (one gold and one bronze) as well as AIS Scholarship holders, swimmers Matt Cowdrey (five gold and three silver), Peter Leek (three gold, four silver and one bronze) and Katrina Porter (one gold).

Paralympic Winter athletes at the AIS are currently preparing to qualify for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver, which takes place 12–21 March 2010.