Madeleine McTernan (swimming) made her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham in 2022 where she finished fifth in the women’s 200m freestyle S14.

Maddie took up swimming as a youngster, winning her first medal when she was in grade 6 at St Francis Xavier School in the NSW north coast town of Woolgoolga. The family swapped the Coffs Coast for the Gold Coast in 2017 and St Hilda’s Swim School in an effort to help her achieve her dream of representing Australia.

Her breakthrough came when she claimed an astonishing eight gold medals at the 2019 Australian Age Championships in Adelaide, earning a spot on the team for the world championships in London. She claimed two gold medals at the INAS (International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments) Global Games in Brisbane later the same year. In 2020, Maddie broke the 400m freestyle S14 world record during the Australian short course championships and gained selection for her first Paralympics in Tokyo where she was part of the silver-medal winning mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 relay and also finished a close fourth in the 100m backstroke final. She also won one gold and three silver medals in mixed relays at the 2022 and 2023 world championships.