Maria Strong

Started: They began competing in Para athletics in 2017 at age 46 in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019; paralympic.org.au, 07 Apr 2019) Reason: They have a passion for sport, and worked as an official at sporting events before they became an athlete. "I was a competitive swimmer as a teenager. Back then, I had never heard of disability sport or the Paralympics. I raced people who did not have a disability, and usually came last or near-last. I have been an athletics official since 2014. I saw other throwers compete and decided to have a go myself." (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019; paralympic.org.au, 07 Apr 2019; cpsn.org.au, 07 Aug 2018) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (athletics.com.au, 05 Oct 2023) Awards: They were named Disability Sport and Recreation's Masters Sports Person of the Year at the 2018 Victorian Disability Sport and Recreation Awards in Australia. (dsr.org.au, 01 Sep 2018; cpsn.org.au, 07 Aug 2018) Additional Info: COACHING They have worked as a swimming instructor and athletics coach in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. "I actually enjoy grassroots more than high performance. When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, but I was unable to complete teacher's college due to health issues at the time. Now [speaking in 2021] I have ended up a swimming instructor and coaching athletics in schools and Little Athletics, it has been a different way to get to what I originally thought I would be doing, which is definitely not winning a Paralympic medal [bronze in F33 shot put at the 2020 Games in Tokyo]. I want to keep people involved at their levels. For me it's about people improving and people having fun; trying things that they might not have otherwise. I like that it's not competitive, which might sound silly coming from a high performance athlete, but I like that they are competing against themselves." (athletics.com.au, 13 Dec 2021; Athlete, 06 Nov 2019; vis.org.au, 01 Aug 2019) MENTAL HEALTH In 2021 they spoke about how struggles with their mental health had led them to consider quitting the sport. However, they were encouraged by their coach to keep on going until the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where they ended up winning a bronze medal. "My mental health has been pretty terrible through much of my high-performance career so far, which certainly didn't help. But I found the routine of training helpful. I forced myself to show up, day after day. No matter how miserable I felt at the beginning of a training session, I almost always felt somewhat better by the end. I had some less than spectacular competitions in the first half of 2021, which upset me, and I considered quitting on multiple occasions. But somehow I kept going, all the way to Tokyo and won a Paralympic medal at the unlikely age of 50. I'm honestly prouder of that [their determination to keep going] than I am of my Paralympic medal." (governmentnews.com.au, 28 Nov 2021) OTHER ACTIVITIES They are a registered official with Athletics Victoria in Australia. "I read something along the lines of, 'Do your Level C qualification, then you can be paid to officiate school meets'. That said, at one point, I was a registered official in three different sports. I like feeling useful. I would absolutely encourage athletes to train as officials. We don't have enough, and without sufficient officials, events can't run. Many Athletics Victoria officials are elderly - they won't be able to keep going forever." (athleticsessendon.org.au, 07 Feb 2022; athletics.com.au, 13 Dec 2021)