Congratulations to our local Paralympians

Australia’s para-swimming team members Paige Leonhardt and Jake Michel not only represented their country in the Paris La Defense Arena pool, but they also represented their hometown of Redlands Coast.

Mayor Jos Mitchell said Thornlands-raised Paige, 23, and Jake, 26, from Birkdale were inspirational athletes who put in superb performances at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Jake lived up to expectations and scored a silver medal in his specialty event, the men’s 100m breaststroke at the Paris 2024 Games. Jake powered home to get ahead of world record holder Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi in the final 20m, but faster-finishing Canadian Nicholas Bennett just beat Jake to the gold.

Jake finished second behind Yamaguchi at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in 2021 bringing home a silver.

“Paige and Jake came to Paris with exceptional form behind them,” the Mayor said.

“Paige, who made her Paralympics debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, also came home from Tokyo with a silver medal.

“In Paris, she just missed out on a medal in the 100m breaststroke final, finishing fourth.

Paralympics Australia had profiled the two swimmers, with the association saying Jake, a breaststroke specialist who has an intellectual impairment, first began competing in para-swimming in 2014.

“It was only after being named to the Dolphins’ development squad in 2018 that Australians realised what they had on their hands – a future Paralympic champion,” the association reported.

“After being internationally classified at the 2019 World Para-swimming World Series, Jake won two gold medals over 50m and 100m.

“These results all but secured Jake’s place at the 2019 World Para-swimming Championships, where he just missed the podium with fourth place – and a new Oceanian record – in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14.”

Paralympics Australia report that when Paige was five years old, she was in a car accident in which she was thrown from the vehicle.

“Her injuries from the accident were severe, requiring four years of recovery with spinal taps, MRIs and operations to remove fluid from her brain,” it reported.

“She had haemorrhages behind the eyes and now suffers from drusens, yellow deposits under the retinas. She continues to suffer hemiplegia on her right side as well as intracranial hypertension, epilepsy and autism.

“She started swimming when she was 12 years old when she was undergoing therapy. Swimming is in Paige’s blood – her grandmother was friends with Dawn Fraser.”

They both have birthdays just after the Games, with Jake turning 27 on 19 September and Paige turning 24 on 21 September.

Jake Michel

Paige Leonhardt