Australia women’s national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

The 2012 Australian women’s national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, played in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The team won silver in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Paralylympics in Athens, but had never won gold. The last time Australia won a gold medal in a ParalympIC event was at the 2008 Summer Paraly Olympic Games in Beijing, when the team won bronze in the women’s basketball competition.

About Australia women’s national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in brief

Summary Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer ParalympicsThe 2012 Australian women’s national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, played in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The team of twelve included nine veterans with 15 Paralympic Games between them: Bridie Kean, Amanda Carter, Sarah Stewart, Tina McKenzie, Kylie Gauci, Katie Hill, Cobi Crispin, Clare Nott and Shelley Chaplin. Amber Merritt, Sarah Vinci and Leanne Del Toso were newcomers competing at their first ParalympICS. The Gliders faced a formidable task just to make the finals, as their pool included Brazil, Great Britain, Canada and the Netherlands. They went on to win the quarterfinal against Mexico and the semifinal against the United States, but lost to Germany in the final, winning silver. The first stage of the competition was the group stage, a round-robin tournament. After a narrow victory over Brazil, and an easier one against GreatBritain, the Glider were again defeated by Canada, but won their final match against the Netherlands to finish at the top of their pool. The Australian team won silver in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Paralylympics in Athens, but had never won gold. The oldest team member was Amanda Carter. The youngest, who had not even been born when Carter had played in Barcelona, was 19-year-old AmberMerritt. The head coach, John Triscari, admitted that Canada would be hard to beat: “Weve gotten back on top of them since they beat us in the World Championships and we’ve gotten the top medal game since then” The team won the bronze medal at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham.

The announcement of the membership of the Paralympian team was made on 5 July 2012, and the team was announced as Australia at 29 August 2012 from Official International Games as Australia; p4 p4-4 p2-4. The most recent official international games for the team were held in July 2013, when they won a bronze medal in the Women’s World Cup in Manchester. The last time Australia won a gold medal in a ParalympIC event was at the 2008 Summer Paraly Olympic Games in Beijing, when the team won bronze in the women’s basketball competition. The 2012 Australian team was selected by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the Australian Basketball Association (ABA). The team was named as the Australian Women’s Wheelchair basketball International Player of the Year in 2011. It was the first time Australia had won the title in the men’s wheelchair basketball competition since the 1980s. It is the only team to have won the gold medal at any of the three Paralympical Games. The previous two golds were won by Australia in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but the team had not won gold in either of the previous two Paralympies since the 2000 Summer Olympics. In the 2010 World Championships, Australia won the silver medal in Birmingham, beating the Netherlands in the semi-final.