Australia at the 1977 FESPIC Games
The Parramatta and Holroyd council areas were chosen because they were the venues for the Seventh National Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Games in 1972, from which Australia’s team for the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, Germany was chosen. The Australian Team was a mixture of very experienced athletes who had been to numerous Paralympics, such as Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Vic Renalson, Vic Salvemini and Elaine Schreiber, to the up and coming youngsters who would use it as a launching pad for their Paralympic careers, including Richard Oliver, Terry Giddy and Wayne Patchett.
Performance:
Significant Australian performances included:
Wheelchair athlete Richard Oliver, from South Australia, set a world record in his class in the 100 metres of 18.7 seconds.
25 year-old blind athlete Jago Mikulic won gold medals in the high jump and pentathlon and silver in shot put and javelin, and bronze in the long jump.
Quadriplegic athlete Wayne Patchett broke 2 world records, in discus and shot put, in winning 3 gold medals in total, to add to the gold and silver medals he won at the 1976 summer Paralympics.
For its first home multi-sport Games since 1962, the Australian Team was a mixture of experienced athletes and up and coming youngsters.
Date: November 1977
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