The Australian Team will feature a record number of Para-athletes and Indigenous Team Members at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Australia will be taking its largest overseas contingent of Commonwealth Games athletes ever to this month’s Birmingham Games.
A total of 430 athletes will don the green and gold, our second largest team of all time (Gold Coast 2018, 473).
The team consists of 229 female athletes, 200 male athletes and one non-binary athlete. There are 347 able-bodied members and a record 75 Para-sport members, with eight guides, pilots and directors to assist the Para-athletes.
The athletes will be supported by a well credentialled crew of 321 team officials, comprised of coaches, medical practitioners, technicians and scientists, management, operational and media services personnel. This takes the total Australian contingent to 751 people.
Our youngest competitor is 14-year-old Melbourne diver Charli Petrov and the oldest is 63-year-old Queensland lawn bowler Cheryl Lindfield.
The Birmingham team includes a Commonwealth Games Australia record 10Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes: Brandon Wakeling (weightlifting), Taliqua Clancy (beach volleyball), Alex Winwood and Callum Peters (boxing), Indiana “Indi” Cooper (athletics), Ruby Storm (swimming), Ashleigh Gardner (cricket), Maurice Longbottom (rugby 7s), Ally Wilson (3×3 basketball) and Mariah Williams (hockey).
View this post on Instagram
There are 284 athletes making their Commonwealth Games debut, and two – Jian Fang Lay (table tennis) and Rachael Grinham (squash) – are bound for their record-breaking sixth Games. They are the first women to achieve this feat for Australia.
The Australian Team for Birmingham features five Kurt Fearnley Scholarship recipients, a program that is named in honour of Para-sport legend Kurt Fearnley AO, and a collaboration between the Carbine Club of New South Wales and Commonwealth Games Australia, with training support from the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS), that was introduced in 2019 to support para-sport ‘future talent’ athletes towards the Birmingham Games.
Swimmers Oscar Stubbs and Jasmine Greenwood, wheelchair racer Sarah Clifton-Bligh, sprinter Indiana “Indi” Cooper and wheelchair table tennis player Jessy Chen are the five Kurt Fearnley Scholarship recipients who are ready to be bold in gold at the Games.
Three sets of siblings will be in Birmingham: Angela and Jack Yu (badminton), Nathan and Josh Katz (judo) and Madison and Teagan Levi (rugby 7s).
Five athletes are following in the footsteps of their parents, including Emma McKeon, daughter of Ron McKeon and Susie Woodhouse; Lani Pallister, daughter of Janelle Elford; Ella Ramsay, daughter of Heath Ramsay; and Angela and Jack Yu, the children of Rosie Tang.
Mack Horton (swimming) and Rachael Grinham (squash) are the only team members to hold a full set of Commonwealth Games medals – three gold, two silver, one bronze, and two gold, two silver, four bronze respectively.
Superfish Emma McKeon is the most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete on the team, with eight gold and four bronze medals. McKeon is eyeing off the all-time record of 10 gold medals, currently held by fellow swimmers Ian Thorpe, Susie O’Neill and Leisel Jones.
The Australian team medal record at a Commonwealth Games is 221 from Melbourne in 2006. Our biggest gold-medal haul is 87 in Victoria in 1994.
Australian Team Chef de Mission Petria Thomas OAM said she is extremely proud of our trained-to-the-minute squad travelling to the UK.
This will be the eighth Commonwealth Games that Thomas has been involved in. She competed at three and is now part of her fifth management team. She also becomes the first female Chef de Mission of an Australian Commonwealth Games Team.
“I congratulate all athletes on their selection and feel confident that this talented squad will be ‘bold in gold’,” she said.
“This team has an incredible blend of experience and fresh energy, a combination which will make the Birmingham Commonwealth Games a thrilling spectator event.
“I hope all athletes soak up the ‘friendly’ Games atmosphere and have a great experience on and off the field of play – because it’s that which makes the Commonwealth Games such a special event.”
Commonwealth Games Australia President Ben Houston said the team’s ambition is to bring it to the English on their home soil and finish on top the medal tally.
“We have a very young and enthusiastic team, balanced by a number of senior Team Members to guide and support the debutants,” he said.
“Commonwealth Games Australia prides itself on celebrating diversity and inclusion. We are proud to be sending a team that has a record number of Indigenous athletes, a strong contingent of women and the most Para-sport athletes we have ever taken to a Games.
“With the next Commonwealth Games to take place on home soil in Victoria in 2026, I hope many of these athletes will be back for round two, three, four – or even seven!
“Above all, I look forward to watching our Australian Team shine and wow viewers both on the ground and across the globe. We know they will be a great source of national pride and inspiration.”
AUSTRALIAN TEAM BY NUMBERS:
435 – number of team members
231 – number of female team members
203 – number of male team members
1 – number of non-binary team members
351 – number of able-bodied team members
76 – number of Para-sport team members
8 – number of Para-sport support members
(four Para-triathlon guides, two Para-cycling pilots, two Para-lawn bowls directors)
321 – number of team officials
46,725 – number of Macron items ordered for the Australian team’s Village and training wear
4,986 – number of pieces of competition wear provided by Macron
800 – number of pairs of shoes supplied by Castore Sportswear
700 – number of carry on suitcases supplied by July
8,262 – R.M.Williams items produced for the Australian Commonwealth Games Team
1,332 – number of Speedo items to be worn by Australia’s aquatic team, including 204 goggles and 248 swim caps
59,567 – Individual items of team apparel
GAMES DEBUTANTS/DEBUTANTES AND ALUMNI
284 – total number of Commonwealth Games debutants/debutantes
99 – total number of athletes heading to their second Commonwealth Games
38 – total number of athletes heading to their third Commonwealth Games
9 – total number of athletes heading to their fourth Commonwealth Games
3 – total number of athletes heading to their fifth Commonwealth Games
2 – total number of athletes heading to their sixth Commonwealth Games
ATHLETES’ BIRTH STATE OR TERRITORY
123 – NSW born team members
84 – VIC born team members
81 – QLD born team members
36 – WA born team Members
31 – SA born team members
13 – TAS born team members
6 – ACT born team members
2 – NT born team members
ATHLETES’ REPRESENTATIVE STATE OR TERRITORY
133 – QLD
110 – NSW
83 – VIC
41 – WA
40 – SA
13 – TAS
13 – ACT
2 – NT
DEFENDING GOLD MEDALLISTS
Kathryn Mitchell (athletics) – women’s javelin
Brandon Starc (athletics) – men’s high jump
Kurtis Marschall (athletics) – men’s pole vault
Madison de Rozario (athletics) – women’s marathon T54
Madison de Rozario (athletics) – women’s 1500m T54
Evan O’Hanlon (athletics) – men’s 100m T38
Chris McHugh (beach volleyball) – men’s beach volleyball
Esther Qin & Georgia Sheehan (diving) – women’s 3m synchronised springboard
Australia Kookaburras (hockey) – men’s hockey
Bec Van Asch & Natasha Van Eldik (lawn bowls) – women’s fours
Bec Van Asch & Natasha Van Eldik (lawn bowls) – women’s triples
Aaron Wilson (lawn bowls) – men’s singles
Jake Fehlberg (lawn bowls) – mixed B2/B3 pairs
Cam Pilley & Donna Lobban (squash) – mixed doubles
Matt Glaetzer (cycling – track) – men’s keirin
Matt Glaetzer (cycling – track) – men’s 1000m time trial
Australia (cycling- track) – men’s 4000m team pursuit
Australia (cycling – track) – women’s 4000m team pursuit
Tim Disken (swimming) – men’s 100m breaststroke S8
Brenden Hall (swimming) – men’s 100m backstroke S9
Matt Levy (swimming) – men’s 50m freestyle S7
Mack Horton (swimming) – men’s 400m freestyle
Emma McKeon (swimming) – women’s 100m butterfly
Ariarne Titmus (swimming) – women’s 400m freestyle
Ariarne Titmus (swimming) – women’s 800m freestyle
Mitch Larkin (swimming) – men’s 50m backstroke
Mitch Larkin (swimming) – men’s 100m backstroke
Mitch Larkin (swimming) – men’s 200m backstroke
Mitch Larkin (swimming) – men’s 200m individual medley
Kyle Chalmers (swimming) – men’s 200m freestyle
Australia (swimming) – men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Australia (swimming) – women’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Australia (swimming) – men’s 4x100m medley relay
Australia (swimming) – women’s 4x100m medley relay
Australia (swimming) – men’s 4x200m freestyle relay
Australia (swimming) – women’s 4x200m freestyle relay
Australia (triathlon) – mixed relay
Eileen Cikamatana (weightlifting) – women’s 90kg (while representing Fiji)
