Alicia Aberley

Alicia Aberley (born 29 March 1984)[1] is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. She represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, where she won several medals, and is a multiple world record holder.

Alicia Aberley
2000 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Aberley
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1984-03-29) 29 March 1984
Riverstone, New South Wales, Australia
Medal record
Swimming
Paralympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Women's 100 m Freestyle S14
Silver medal – second place2000 SydneyWomen's 200 m Medley SM14
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney Women's 50 m Breaststroke SB14
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney Women's 200 m Freestyle S14
IPC Swimming World Championships
Gold medal – first place1998 ChristchurchWomen's 4 x 100 m Freestyle S14
Gold medal – first place1998 Christchurch4 x 50 m Medley S14
Bronze medal – third place1998 ChristchurchWomen's 100 m Freestyle S14
Bronze medal – third place1998 ChristchurchWomen's 200 m Freestyle S14
Bronze medal – third place1998 ChristchurchWomen's 50 m Breaststroke SB14

Personal

Aberley was born on 29 March 1984 in the Sydney suburb of Riverstone.[1][2] Her family has lived in the Riverstone Township for several decades. In Aberley's pre-2001 swimming career, her family could not afford to attend international competitions that she participated in. Aberley could not afford a way to nicely display her many medals at her house, so they were put into storage around the house instead of being on display.[3] Alicia did not grow up with a lot of money.[3]

Aberley is a student and a journalist.[4] She attended Riverstone High School.[5] In 2000, she completed year ten at Riverstone High School and passed her year ten exams.[6]

Aberley was a single mother of a son. She later became involved with someone who helped her raise her son. She is self-employed through Amway.[4] After eighteen months of working for Amway, she became a gold level producer.[7]

Competitive swimming
Action shot of Aberley doing breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Aberley waves to fans as she celebrates one of her bronze medal wins at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Aberley (right) and fellow Australian swimmer Siobhan Paton smiling and celebrating their achievements on the medal podium at the 2000 Summer Paralympics

Aberley started swimming in 1995. At the 1998 national championships, she finished second in the women's 100 m breaststroke intellectually disabled event.[8] She competed at the 1998 International Paralympic Committee world swimming championships in Christchurch as a member of the women's 4x100 m relay team, where she won a gold medal with her teammates; Siobhan Paton, Petrea Barker and Bernadette Morris.[9] At the 1999 Telstra Australian National Championships, she won a gold medal and broke a world record in the women's 100 m breaststroke event.[1] By 2000, she had won medals at events on many levels including local, state, national and international. In 2000, prior to the start of the Paralympics, she competed at a swimming event in Amsterdam, where she won gold medals in several events including the 100 m breaststroke and 200 m freestyle. At the same event, she won three silver medals in the 200 m individual medley and the 50 and 100 m freestyle events.[3]

As a school representative, Aberley competed in the 2000 Pacific School Games Team. This event helped with her Paralympic team selection.[5]

At the 2000 Sydney Games, she won two silver medals in the Women's 100 m Freestyle S14 and Women's 200 m Medley SM14 events and two bronze medals in the Women's 200 m freestyle S14 and Women's 50 m breaststroke SB14 events.[10] At the 2000 games, she competed in several other events in which she did not win medals. They included the 50 m freestyle event where she finished fifth, the 50 m backstroke event where she finished sixth, the 100 m freestyle event where she finished seventh, and the 50 m butterfly where she did not qualify for the final.[11]

Aberley was coached by Greg McWhirter of Baulkham Hills.[12][13] In 2002, Aberley competed at the 2002 Telstra Australian Championships. She won the multidisability 100 m breaststroke event, with a time of 01:22.99. She represented The Hill swim club.[14] She also competed at the 2003 competition in the Women's 100 m freestyle multi-disability event.[15]

Aberley has held several world and Australian records in swimming. They include the world record for the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events. She held the 16-year-old age world record for the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m breaststroke. Her Australian national records are for the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events.[3]

Recognition

On 23 August 2000, she was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for world record achievements.[16] In 2000, she was named the Sportsperson of the Year by the Blacktown City Council.[17] In 2001, she was named the Telstra Swimmer of the Year with a Disability. That year, she also received a Telstra SWD (swimmers with a disability) Scholarship.[18] In December 2000, a time capsule was buried at Riverstone High School that was to be dug up by current students in 25 years time. The time capsule included newspaper articles about Aberley and Olympic torchbearer Melissa Bushby, both of whom attended the school.[19] In August 2009, she was rewarded with Platinum IBO recognition from Amway.[4]

References
  1. "Athlete's Profile". Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 4 December 2000.
  2. "Top performers". Penrith Press (1 ed.). Sydney, Australia. 14 February 2003. p. 68.
  3. "SYDNEY 2000 PARALYMPIC GAMES". Parliament of New South Wales. p. 9232. Archived from the original on 31 March 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  4. "IBO Recognitions". Amway. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
  5. "Riverstone High School". Department of Education & Training, School Sport Unit. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  6. Osborne, Sue (6 December 2000). "Swimmer tops off a great year". Blacktown Advocate (1 ed.). Sydney, Australia. p. 79.
  7. "The Changing Face of IBOs" (PDF). Amway. May 2009. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  8. Morrissey, Tim; Dixon, Catriona (6 May 1998). "Siobhan's 27 world records – and she's only 14 / Tomorrow's Champions Today". Sport. Daily Telegraph (1st ed.). Sydney, Australia. p. 79.
  9. "Swimming". The Advertiser (1 – State ed.). Adelaide, Australia. 15 October 1998. p. 89.
  10. "Athlete Search Results". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. "The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games". Australian Institute of Sport. Archived from the original on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  12. "New role for swim coach". Hills Shire Times (1 ed.). Sydney, Australia. 24 September 2002. p. 118.
  13. "Swimming for glory". Hills Shire Times (1 ed.). Sydney, Australia. 5 February 2002. p. 096.
  14. "2002 Telstra Australian Championships" (PDF). Australian Swimming 93rd Annual Report 2001/2002. Swimming Australia: 72. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  15. "Australian Swimming Championships results". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 March 2003. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  16. "Alicia Aberley". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  17. "Sportsperson of the Year". Blacktown City Council. 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  18. "2001 Telstra Swimmer of the Year Award Winners" (PDF). Australian Swimming 93rd Annual Report 2001/2002. Swimming Australia: 15. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  19. "25 years a long wait for pupils". Blacktown Advocate (1 ed.). Sydney, Australia. 6 December 2000. p. 11.
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