New Zealand Paralympic team member Kate Horan prepares for
next week's world championships in Christchurch, at the
Caledonian Ground, Dunedin, yesterday. Photo by Craig
Baxter.
Gold medals are expected from Tim Prendergast and Kate
Horan, who are ranked top in their events next week at the
International Para Committee's athletics world championships,
in Christchurch.
The two Wellington athletes are expected to be the stars of
the nine-strong New Zealand team at the championships that
has its official opening at Queen Elizabeth 2 Park tomorrow.
The team has a mixture of athletes with international
experience as well as young talent that will be looking
towards the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Prendergast (31), who is based in London, will be competing
in the 800m and 1500m T 13 class.
He was a gold medallist at the Paralympic Games at Athens in
2004 and is ranked top in the 1500m.
Horan (33), a sprinter, is ranked top in the 200m and will
also contest the 100m.
She was a silver medallist in the 200m at the Beijing
Paralympics in 2008.
She is in the T 44 class.
Another medal prospect is Jessica Hamill (Southland), who
will compete in the javelin and shot put.
She was a silver medallist in the shot put at the
Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Fellow Commonwealth Games representative Matthew Lack (Bay of
Plenty) came within six-hundredths of a second of a bronze
medal in the T54 1500m at Delhi.
The 19-year-old hails from Opotiki, in the Bay of Plenty, and
will compete in the 400m, 800m and 1500m.
The youngest member of the team is West Coast athlete Holly
Robinson (15), who will compete in the javelin and shot put
in the T 46 class.
Two other teenagers in the team are Sunil Fernandez-Ritchie
(17), of Waikato, in the 1500m and 17-year-old Chelsea Seagar
(Auckland), in the sprints and long jump.
Competing in field events are Joe Flavell (Auckland) and Rory
McSweeney (Otago).
Flavell (33) was a former New Zealand Maori rugby league
player and member of the Warriors development squad.
He also excelled in basketball, rugby and softball at age
group levels.
McSweeney is a 25-year-old javelin thrower from Dunedin, who
is coached by team leader Raylene Bates.
She also coaches Hamill and Robinson.
McSweeney, a personal trainer at Les Mills gymnasium, will
make his international debut in the CF 44 below the knee
javelin.
McSweeney has taken a positive approach to life and intends
taking it into the world championships.
"It's all about ability. Disability doesn't come into it," he
said.
"Sport is the challenge I've chosen to pursue."
McSweeney has two carbon fibre blades, one for daily use,
with a heel, and one for athletics, without a heel.
He was hit by a truck at the age of 3 and became a
below-the-knee amputee.
The IPC Athletics World Championships will be held at
Christchurch from January 21-30 and has attracted 1055
athletes from 79 countries.
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