Angela Ballard

Angela Ballard is a world-class competitor with vast experience. Her selection for Glasgow 2026 is a record fifth Commonwealth Games team, and she equals able-bodied athletes Kathryn Mitchell and Eloise Wellings as the only track and field athletes to go to five Games. Angie has been on the Australian team since 1998 – 29-years and competed at nine World Para-Athletics Championships and seven Paralympic Games.

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When Angie was seven-years-old, she was involved in a near-fatal car accident that paralysed her. She recalls waking up on the side of the road unable to move after her father asked her to sit up. She spent six weeks in hospital before returning home to Canberra.  Angie commenced rehabilitation in Sydney the following year and, having been exposed to disability early (her brother has spina bifida), it wasn’t long before she adapted to life in a wheelchair.

Angie experimented with many sports after attending a Wheelchair Sports NSW camp, but ultimately credits her PE teacher with finding her competitive edge in wheelchair racing. Looking for new ways to challenge herself, she began competing soon after.

Angie made her Australian team debut at the 1998 World Para-Athletics Championships, where she competed in the 100m to 800m and won dual gold in the relays. She made her Paralympic debut two years later in front of a home crowd in Sydney. A month after her 20th birthday she became world champion in the T54 100m. In Athens she was third in the same event, claiming her first Paralympic Games medal.

Over the next, nearly two decades, Angie has set world records, won world titles, Paralympic medals and Commonwealth Games gold.

Two undoubted highlights were her three medals at the London Paralympics and two world titles in the women’s 200m T53 and women’s 400m T53 at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

The mid-COVID Paralympic Games were tough for Angie. In Tokyo in 2021 she just missed the podium in the T53 400m, placing fifth (57.61). She was also seventh in the 800m (1:52.22) and 100m (17.43). Angie was pleased with her results, particularly the 400m.

“Fourth is huge for me. Everyone has had a tough time lately and after Rio I was prepared for the hard stuff and another great four years. I’ve learned that different hard stuff can come at you – it’s been pretty horrible some of the years, but I still love what I do,” she said.

“So coming here and getting a bit closer to where I was both in terms of the world and my joy for racing has just been huge. It makes me both hungry and excited that this is where I’m at.”

Angie’s leadership was recognised with her named captain of the entire Australian 2024 Paralympic team.

“Leadership is looking after that 16-year-old who started a long time ago,” Ballard said, reflecting on her debut representing Australia at the 1998 World Para Athletics Championships.

“It’s not always easy to speak up and the Paralympics has been a big part of me finding a voice, so I feel obligated, in a good way, to speak up whenever I can.”

Angie’s career summary:

Seven Paralympic Games, 8 medals

Nine World Championships, 12 medals (5 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze)

Five Commonwealth Games, 3 medals (1 gold, 2 silver)

@ 14 June 26 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au