As the countdown continues towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Australian Olympic Team has been finalised with 460 athletes selected to represent Australia across 33 sports.
The number of athletes selected is the third largest to compete at an Olympic Games held overseas, behind Tokyo 2020 (486) and Athens 2004 (482).
The Illawarra Academy of Sport (IAS) continues its history of producing athletes for the Olympic Games with a total of 10 alumni athletes selected for Paris – seven IAS alumni athletes chosen for the Olympics and three IAS alumni athletes chosen for the Paralympics.
The IAS contingent will be led by swimming superstar Emma McKeon who will compete at her third Olympics, while hockey star Blake Govers is also off to his third Olympics, and teammate Flynn Ogilvie will head to his second Olympics.
Hockeyroos co-captain Grace Stewart will chase an elusive gold medal at her third Olympic Games, while tennis star Ellen Perez has been in brilliant form after reaching a career-high doubles ranking of world No.7 and will team up with Daria Saville in the women’s doubles in Paris.
Australian athletics star Sarah Carli will again wear the green and gold at an Olympic Games, while 20-year-old skateboarder Kieran Woolley will be chasing a podium finish in Paris after finishing in fifth position at the Tokyo Olympics in the Skateboarding Park event.
At the Paris Paralympic Games, the IAS will be represented by swimmer Jasmine Greenwood, who at just 16 years-of-age won a silver medal in the 100m butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, Illawarra basketball great Brett Stibners and Telaya Blacksmith, a teenage star of T20 400m running.
Stibners won gold with the Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball team – the Rollers – at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games and has since retired from international basketball and is an assistant coach of the Australian team.
Blacksmith is set to make her Paralympic debut and is only the 16th Indigenous Australian Paralympian. The talented athlete is also a member of the Sydney Swans Academy and won the Brett Stibners Award for the IAS 2020-21 AWD (Athletes with a Disability) Athlete of the Year.
Illawarra Academy of Sport CEO Salv Carmusciano said the academy is proud to have such a strong representation of athletes at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics and is excited about what is to come for future IAS athletes.
“On behalf of the Illawarra Academy of Sport, I would like to congratulate all our alumni athletes that have been selected for the Olympics and the Paralympics,” Carmusciano said.
“The Illawarra Academy of Sport has a long and proud history in developing and elevating athletes to higher representative honours and we wish all our alumni athletes the best of luck at the Olympics and the Paralympics in Paris.
“While the immediate focus will be on Paris, our stars of the future will be looking ahead to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, and I’m pleased to announce that we have officially opened our 2024-25 IAS scholarship program nominations.”
The IAS scholarships are a fee-free program and are proudly funded by local and state governments, plus community partners, with the intake running from October 2024 until September 2025.
Each scholarship is free of charge to athletes and is valued over $2,500, with the program covering numerous sports and providing coaching, education, performance support and training for young Illawarra athletes in order to improve their development in their chosen sport.
Current IAS athletes Marci Davis-Cook (17) and Jake Barritt (13) said the scholarship program has had a positive impact on their sporting journey and thanked the Wollongong community for their support.
“The Wollongong community is amazing,” Davis-Cook said.
“Not only do they support individual athletes like myself and Jake, but incredible organisations like the Illawarra Academy of Sport.
“Thank you to all the sponsors for your ongoing support of the academy, because without it we wouldn’t have the foundations to be great athletes of the future.”
Barritt, a dual scholarship holder in triathlon and cycling, thanked the IAS for their contribution towards his career as he continues to develop into a professional athlete.
“I have learned skills and developed as an athlete all thanks to the amazing team at the IAS,” Barritt said.
“They have provided me with many opportunities including social media training, leadership programs and nutritional expertise.”
More information about the 2024-25 IAS scholarship program nominations can be found here – https://ias.org.au/ias-officially-open-scholarship-program-nominations/
