Culture

17-Year-Old Lakeisha Patterson Has Won Australia’s First Gold Medal At The Rio Paralympics

The Queenslander broke the world record in the process.

by Tom Clift  9 September 2016

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Australia has opened its gold medal account at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, with swimmer Lakeisha Patterson blitzing the women’s S8 400m freestyle in record-breaking time. The Queenslander easily beat former world record holder Jessica Long to a first place finish, knocking 0.11 of a second off the American’s record in the process. And just to rub things in, she’s only 17 years old.

Patterson, whose nickname is Lucky, finished with a time of 4:40.22. “I just knew I needed to get to the wall and I needed to get there fast,” she told reporters after the race. She also paid tribute to the 24-year-old Long, saying “she’s been my idol and to be able to race alongside her and finish on top is amazing… she said she was really proud of me”.

Patterson began swimming at the age of three as part of physical therapy for her cerebral palsy. She previously won gold in the women’s 100m freestyle relay at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships. Rio marks her first appearance at the Paralympics.

Fellow Australian Maddison Elliott finished the event in fourth place, hugging Patterson after the race. Earlier in the day, 49-year-old Sue Powell claimed Australia’s first medal, winning silver in the 3000m individual pursuit cycling.