Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every four years the Olympics and the Paralympics roll around, and they're truly wonderful reminders of how great it is to be an Australian. What an outstanding effort by our Olympians over the past fortnight! A record haul of gold medals and a record haul of medals more generally. As our Olympians finish their campaign, our Paralympians get ready to make their mark on Paris over the next few weeks.

I'm looking forward to the Paralympic Games, and I had the pleasure recently of meeting with our Paralympic team, as the co-chair, with the member for Moreton, of the parliamentary friends of the Olympics, to celebrate their leaving for Paris. If we look at our Olympic athletes over the past couple of weeks—whether it's our Matildas, our rugby sevens, our swimmers, our athletes, our cyclists, our rowers, our sailors—right across the Olympic family, our athletes did us proud. Australia shone bright in the city of lights.

We take a bit of a look back at some of the fundamental principles of what the Olympics are all about. One of the great things about sport is it's a unifier. You see the camaraderie of athletes—Olympians—from right across the world at the Olympics, and it shows us what a great unifier sport is. That is what is so terrific—that we see people go out to achieve their best in representing their country. Not every athlete is successful at winning a medal. We frequently focus on the winners and those who receive our silver and gold medals, but I take this opportunity to acknowledge all of those other athletes that competed, didn't get a medal, yet went out there and tried their best, represented their country. In many cases, many of these people achieved personal bests, and what more could you ask in the environment of the greatest sporting event on the planet, that you go out and compete and represent your country and achieve a personal best? I think we should hold those and every other athlete at an equal level to those who have won medals, because they have done an extraordinary job to deliver on the biggest stage of achieving success.

I take the opportunity to mention a few of the athletes that have come from the great city of Logan. Logan swimmer Mollie O'Callaghan was the darling of the Paris Olympics, winning more gold medals than any Australian, and with her winning streak she now holds the equal second most gold medals of any Australian in Olympic history—five golds, tied with Ian Thorpe, one medal behind Emma McKeon. Throw in her silver medals and her bronze medals, and it was an outstanding swimming meet for Mollie.

We also look at Logan village mum Amanda Jennings, who will be competing in the Paralympics. She competed previously in 2016, receiving a silver medal in the paracanoe. Unfortunately, she has had health issues in the meantime, but now will represent Australia in para-archery at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

Logan City BMX Academy rider Izaac Kennedy made it to the final but sadly lost out on a medal, and I should also take the opportunity to mention Logan Martin and his efforts in the BMX. An adductor injury forced Meadowbrook all-rounder Ash Moloney to pull out of the decathlon after three events, but he'll certainly go back around again.

To all of these athletes and many more: congratulations on your tremendous success at the 2024 Olympics, and we look forward to the Paralympics starting in a couple of weeks time.

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