Australia at the 1968 Summer Paralympics

Australia competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel.[1] The Games significantly expanded in 1968 when compared to previous years, as did the Australian team and the events included in the Games.[1][2] Mexico City were originally to host the 1968 Paralympics, however, they were moved to Tel Aviv in Israel.[2]

Australia at the
1968 Summer Paralympics
IPC codeAUS
NPCAustralian Paralympic Committee
Websitewww.paralympic.org.au
in Tel Aviv
Competitors32 in 10 sports
Medals
Ranked 4th
Gold
15
Silver
16
Bronze
7
Total
38
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)

Although there was disappointment expressed at not being able to have to Paralympics in the 'Olympic' city of that year, the Tel Aviv organising committee worked hard to provide a positive experience for the athletes and their support staff.[2][3][4] The Australian team however had to be content with dubious living conditions for the duration of the competition, being housed in an underground car park.[5] Despite the poor accommodation the athletes performed well, with world records falling and numerous Australian competitors taking home a swag of gold medals (see 'Medalists' table below). Australian's haul of 38 medals earned them fourth spot on the 'unofficial' placing.[1][6]

Background

The Paralympic Games

Sir Ludwig Guttman was a German and Jewish neurologist who worked with the disabled in the national spinal injuries center called the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England.[2][7][8] Sport for the disabled was involved in the rehabilitation of spinal cord injury patients as it was believed to provide a physiological and psychological therapy.[2][9][10] Guttman organised a competition with Archery and Javelin called the Stoke Mandeville Games that began on 28 July in 1948, the same day as the opening of the 1948 Olympic Games in London, with the hope it would one day become the Olympic Games for the disabled.[4][2][10] This competition became international in 1952 when athletes from Holland participated and continued to grow.[7][11][2] Sir Ludwig Guttman visited the Melville Rehabilitation Centre and invited Australian athletes to compete in the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1957.[11][12][8] The 1960 Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome have been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the first Summer Paralympic Games and Guttman went down in history as the man who connected rehabilitation to competitive sport and created the Paralympic Games.

1968 Tel Aviv Paralympic Games

The 1968 Paralympic Games were held in Tel Aviv from 4 to 13 November, in and around the ILAN Sports Centre. The four other locations that were used were the Hayarkon Souts Club, Ramat Gan Stadium and the Ramat Gan Bowling Club.[2][8] The logo of the 1968 Games represents three interlocking wheelchair wheels that were used by the Stoke Mandeville Games at the time and represent the ideals of the Games which are friendship, unity and sportsmanship.[2] ISMG 1968 stands for International Stoke Mandeville Games 1968, which was the name of the Games before they were labelled the Paralympics.[7][2] The length of the 1968 Pralympics was longer than that of the Paralympics prior in both Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964.[4][13][1]

The Paralympic games expanded in 1968 compared to previous years as the participating nations increased by seven to include Canada, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand and Spain in their first Paralympics in Tel Aviv.[4][1][2] The Games saw an increase in sports with the addition of Lawn Bowls and an increase in the number of events from 144 to 188 with changes in classifications and Women's Basketball and the Men's 100m Sprint were added.[13][9][14][2][1] The 1968 Paralympics saw a large increase in participation in that there were 378 in Tokyo and 750 athletes in Tel Aviv.[1][13][14] The only type of disability included in Tel Aviv was spinal cord injuries, other disabilities were not added until 1976.[7][1] At this time, the wheelchairs used by the Australian athletes were multipurpose and few had changes to them from the generic everyday wheelchair that increased stability or maneuverability to specialise them for sport.[8][7][2] There were also restrictions in that athletes could not use straps to secure them to the wheelchair and rules were provided for cushion and wheelchair height to create and even playing field among the athletes.[7][8] While the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv were not as developed and professional as they are in the present day, Australian paraplegic athletes involved have largely discussed the high competitiveness of making the Australian team and the Tel Aviv Games themselves.[8][5]

Jeff Simmonds on tarmac before departing for Tel Aviv 1968

Disabled Sport in Australia

Paraplegic sport in Australia was, like the United Kingdom, an aspect of rehabilitation from spinal injury for many patients, but the growing international status of sport for the disabled helped in the creation of initiatives in Australia.[15] Interstate competitions began in Australia in 1959 and sporting organisations for disabled athletes were prevalent and still growing in each state.[16][17][11][15][8] These organisations as well as Sir George Bedbrook, a surgeon and director of the spinal unit of the Royal Perth Hospital, and others played a vital role in the rise of organised, competitive disabled sport and the Paralympic movement in Australia.[18][16]

Host City

A key component of the Paralympic Games is that it is always aimed to closely follow the Olympics and to be hosted by the same nation as the Olympic Games.[9][7] However, there have been some exceptions to this due to various reasons and the 1968 Paralympic Games is one such exception. The competition was set to be held in Mexico City as the Olympic Games were that year and everything seemed to be progressing well until an American team lead by Ben Lipton was to travel to Mexico City to assess the altitude impact on the disabled athletes as there were some concerns.[2][9][7] Upon arranging their travel, the president of the rehabilitation center in Mexico sent a letter stating that due to financial constraints and accessibility issues with the facilities, Mexico city would not be able to host the Paralympic Games in 1968.[19][2][14][9][7] This rejection of the Olympic host city was a blow to the agenda of Guttman as well as those involved in promoting sport internationally for the disabled but applications to be the host city were put forward by Buenos Aires, New York, and Tel Aviv.[20] Guttman selected Tel Aviv, Israel as the host city and the President of the Israeli Stoke Mandeville Committee Arieh Fink, stated that the Israeli Government was most enthusiastic about being selected, given that it coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the State of Israel, as well as the twentieth anniversary of the Stoke Mandeville Games.[2][6][7][4][20] Israel is a country with a long tradition of wheelchair sports due to their large number of spinal injuries from war, they had the resources to host a Paralympic Games and were, at the time, a powerful country of the International Olympic Committee.[2][5][4]

Cost and Funding

The cost to compete in the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv was a challenge that all athletes faced in the Australian team, however, Israel paid for 50% of all teams travel costs which undoubtedly helped Australians to fund their trip.[11][20][8][2] Some funding was also received from the Australian government to support these athletes.[8] The athletes were responsible to raise the money required for the Games, their uniforms, equipment, travel, training and administration fees themselves and this was achieved through full-time work and a large amount of fundraising.[18][8][5] Athletes fundraised through demonstration Games, donations, parties, street stalls, competitions, raffles, balls and anything they could do to raise funds to compete.[1][11][8] When interviewed regarding the 1968 Paralympic Games,[8] Australian athletes state that it was a necessity to work full-time to be able to afford to compete, but employment was not easy for all the athletes. Full-time work and fundraising meant that Australian athletes were not able to focus on and dedicate the same time to their training as much as some other countries athletes were able to.

Jeff Simmonds Carried onto plane headed for Tel Aviv Paralympics 1968

Accommodation and Travel

A highly prevalent concern of Australian athletes at the 1968 Paralympic Games was the accommodation and facilities that were provided in Israel. While the women athletes and other nations like America were in the rooms at the Kfar Maccabiah or Ramat-Aviv hotels, the male athletes on the Australia team were provided makeshift rooms in the carpark area beneath the high-rise building.[8][18][5] The grounds were covered in plastic, athletes were provided camp stretchers with straw mattresses, that were replaced by the Australian team and staff with mattresses.[8][5] There was one shower for all the men that was said to not have proper plumbing and very quickly overflowed and slightly flooded the area they were living in and one toilet.[18][8][5] It is believed mosquitos were also present in the area in which the Australian team were living.[8] The food provided was described by some of the Australian athletes as insufficient and unappetising, however, this may reflect cultural and cuisine differences and not the quality or nutritional content of the food. Multiple athletes on the Australian team, however not all athletes at the Games, have stated that these factors created some unpleasantness and reduced enjoyment of their experience at the 1968 Paralympic Games. The travel to and from the Games is not widely documented and as the image shows, the athletes were carried onto the planes in Australia heading to Israel and reports from the Daphne Hilton in the NLA interviews (NLA) state that a forklift was used to transport the passengers off the plane in Israel. During the Games, athletes travelled by bus to the venues and were almost always accompanied by Israeli female army officers.[8][5][18]

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony for the 1968 Paralympic Games took place on 4 November 1968, in the University of Jerusalem Stadium.[19][1][4][2] Approximately twenty thousand spectators were present at the ceremony, which included an introduction and lap of honour, known as the ‘wheel past’ of competing athletes, a military band performance, and folk dancing accompanied by a girls choir.[2] Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Yigal Allon delivered the welcome message, as the President was recovering from illness at the time, and the founder and president of the Paralympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann gave the opening speech.[2][19][4][12] Giving the oath on behalf of the athletes was Israeli's Zvi Ben-Zvi, one of the pioneering Israeli Paralympians during the 1954 Stoke Mandeville Games, having becoming a paraplegic serving in the Arab-Israeli War.[2][4]

Team

1968 Australian Paralympic Team in Bangkok on the way to Tel Aviv

The Australian team doubled in size from 16 in 1964 to 32 in 1968, it consisted of 32 members in total, 23 men and 9 women (results, Australia at paralympics, remembering and reflecting). : [1]
Women - Pam Smith, Di Workman, Cherrie Ireland (née Loydstrom), Elaine Schreiber, Marion O'Brien, Daphne Hilton (née Ceeney), Elizabeth Edmondson, Lorraine Dodd, Sally Lamb
Men - Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Bill Mather-Brown, Bruno Moretti, Frank Ponta, Gary Hooper, Vic Renalson, Kevin Munro, Roy Fowler, Kevin Bawden, Brian Chambers, Robert McIntyre, John Beattie, Peter Burt, Alan McLucas, Tony South, Alan Conn, Felix Blums, Jeff Simmonds, Don Watts, John Newton, John Martin, Noel Simmons

The athletes were supported by a large, dedicated support staff, a mixture of experienced practitioners and fresh faces (results, NLA:)[21]
– Dr John Yeo (Team Leader), George Bedbrook(Senior Medical Officer), John 'Johnno' Johnston (Team Manager), Elizabeth Kosmala (née Richards)(Assistant Secretary), Mr Ashley Coops (Secretary), Mrs Aileen Coops (Attendant), Mr E. Kyle (Assistant Medical Officer), Miss D. Newton (Physiotherapist), Jan Hooper (Nurse), Kevin Betts (Attendant), M. Wilson (Attendant), William 'Bill' Gibbs (Sports Instructor), Jack McCafferty (Attendant), Miss Janet Tyler (nurse), Miss Nancy Joyce (nurse), Jan Hooper (Assistant Sports instructor, Baggage Marshall) and S.C. Chase (Assistant Baggage Marshall).

Kevin Coombs commented that the Australian team didn't have the sponsorship or training camps that other countries were providing their athletes. He noted that due to inadequate funding to be eligible athletes had to participate in several sports.[22] Coombs also noted that the accommodation was very rough with the team being housed in an undercover car park, with one toilet and shower for 32 men and camp stretches with straw mattresses.[22]

Selections

The competing athletes in the Games underwent selection by first being nominated to be eligible for selection by their state association and then being selected by coaches based on performance in the National Paraplegic Games held in 1968 before the Paralympic Games.[8] This selection process was seen by some, as slightly flawed, yet other athletes had no issue with this process. Competitiveness to be selected to represent Australia at the Paralympic Games in 1968 was very high and athletes participated in numerous events because they were skillful enough but primarily to increase their chances of being selected.[18][13][8] All of the athletes listed above competed and performed well enough in their events to be selected to represent Australia in the Paralympic Games in 1968.

Events and Results

There were 188 events from 10 sports included in the schedule of the 1968 Paralympic games in Tel Aviv and as a nation, Australia competed in 7 of these sports. Both the sports included and the number of events at the 1968 Paralympic Games increased from the previous Games from 144 to 188 events and from 9 to 10 sports adding Lawn Bowls as well as the Men's 100m Sprint for men and Women's Basketball events.[2][1][7] Australian athletes were considered as quite successful, demonstrated as Australia claimed 4th place in the final medal tally.[2][1] Details of events, Australian competitors and their results official results as reported by the International Paralympic Committee[1] can be found below.

Archery

Archery 1968 Paralympic Games Tel Aviv

Australia represented by:[1][23]

MenKevin Bawden, Felix Blums, Alan Conn, Roy Fowler, Alan McLucas, Tony South

Women – Pam Smith, Di Workman [8]

Archery was a strength of Australian athletes as three podium finishes were achieved in this sport, which saw a large number of athletes competing in these events.[23][8][11] Tony South took the gold medal in the Men's Ablion Round Open event of his strongest sport by a mere 2 points to his Dutch opponent but was not able to beat him in the FITA Round Open and came in second.[8][1] Whereas, Alan McLucas missed out of a gold medal in the Men's St. Nicholas Round Cervical by just 4 points winning the silver medal.[1] Alan Conn finished with a gold medal in the Men's Columbia Round Open, setting a new world record in the process with a score of 618.[1] While the women did not have as many competitors, both Workman and Smith placed in the middle of their event rankings.[1]

Australian athlete results in archery[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Score/Time
Men FITA Round Open Tony South

Fowler

2nd

13th

2029

1907

Ablion Round Open Tony South

Fowler

1st

7th

800

714

Columbia Round Open Conn

Bawden

1st

20th

618

536

St. Nicholas Rounds Cervical McLucas 2nd 523
St. Nicholas Rounds Paraplegic Blums 15th 624
Women Columbia Round Open Workman 7th 443
St. Nicholas Round Paraplegic Smith 6th 582

Athletics

Australia was represented by:[1]

Men – Peter Burt, Brian Chambers, Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Gary Hooper, John Martin, Bill Mather-Brown, Robert McIntyre, Alan McLucas, Bruno Moretti, Kevin Munro, Frank Ponta, Vic Renalson, Noel Simmons

WomenLorraine Dodd, Daphne Hilton, Cherrie Loydstrom, Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber, Pam Smith, Di Workman [8]

Athletics was Australia's most successful pursuit in Tel Aviv, finishing with a total of 19 medals made up of 7 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze.[8][1] Australia had multiple competitors and took part in a large portion of the events that were available, as is seen in the table below.

Although Athletics wasn't her primary pursuit, Lorraine Dodd still managed to find herself on the medal podium twice, earning a silver medal in the Women's Slalom A event, and a bronze in the Women's 60m Wheelchair dash A.[24][1][8] Dodd actually finished with the same time as the silver medallist in the 60m dash, but upon review was awarded the bronze.[9] Gary Hooper competed in eight different track and field disciplines, earning a medal in three.[1] There was a close battle between Australia's Gary Hooper and Bruno Moretti in the Men's 100m Wheelchair Dash. Hooper finished second to compatriot Bruno Moretti in the heats but Hooper came through to finish first in the final ahead of Moretti by 0.40 seconds and took home the gold medal.[1]

The Men's 4x40m Open Relay team was made up of Gary Hooper, Martin, Moretti and Munro who won a silver medal, only being beaten by a world record time set by the United States (results). The Australians were faster in the final than in the heat but this was not enough to surpass the American team.[1] The Women's 4x40m Open Relay team was Dodd, Hilton, Loydstrom and Shreiber were not as successful as the men and finished in 8th place just behind the French team.[1]

Australia's men also saw some success in the slalom events, finishing one-two in the A and B events.[1] Moretti and Mather-Brown topped their events comfortably in the A event and Martin narrowly beat Suga from Japan in the B event.[8][1]

Australia had a large amount of competition in the field events, for example the Men's Shot Put C event saw 51 athletes compete, but Australia were still able to achieve a few podium finishes and come very close to those in front in of them other events.[1] Renalson dominated the throwing events, improving on all of his qualification distances in the Men's Shot Put A, Men's Discus A, Men's Javelin A and Men's Club Throw A earning him two gold medals, one bronze and one silver.[1] Australia had many competitors in the Precision Javelin event but were unable to finish the event with a medal. The Pentathlon event at the 1968 games was a mixture of Archery, Athletics and Swimming and Australia had five athletes compete in the men's and women's event overall. Frank Ponta did not place as well as he hoped in his favourite event finishing 7th in the Men's Pentathlon Complete event, but Daphne Hilton took the Bronze medal in the Women's Petathlon Special Class.[8][1]

Australian athlete results in athletics[1]
Gender Event Athlete Score/Time
Men Novice 60m A Heat - Simmons

Final - Simmons

4th

4th

16.40s

16.30s

Novice 60m B Heat - McIntyre

Heat - Burte

Heat - Chambers

6th

9th

10th

15.40s

16.30s

16.30s

100m A Heat - Moretti

Final- Moretti

Heat - Hooper

Final – Hooper

Heat - Ponta

Final - Ponta

Heat - Mather-Brown

1st

2nd

2nd

1st

6th

6th

8th

24.00s

24.60s

24.20s

24.20s

26.10s

26.60s

26.40s

100m B Heat - Munro

Final - Munro

Heat - Martin

Heat - Coombs

1st

1st

7th

11th

21.60s

21.80s

24.50s

25.90

4x40m Open Heat

Final

2nd

2nd

40.60s

39.80s

Slalom A Moretti

Mather-Brown

Ponta

Hooper

1st

2nd

6th

7th

1:07:20min

1:11:00min

1:21:40min

1:21:80min

Slalom B McIntyre

Martin

Munro

1st

2nd

20th

1:04:90min

1:06:90min

1:25:70min

Slalom Cervical Class McLucas 1st 1:29:20min
Shot Put A Q - Renalson

Final - Renalson

2nd

3rd

6.31m

6.82m

Shot Put B Q - Hooper

Final - Hooper

3rd

2nd

7.18m

7.33m

Shot Put C Q - Munro 38th 5.12m
Shot Put D Q - Simmons

Q - Chambers

8th

19th

6.64m

4.81m

Discus A Q - Renalson

Final - Renalson

Q - Simmons

1st

1st

23rd

21.90m

22.34m

13.93m

Discus B Q - Hooper

Q - Moretti

13th

17th

15.92m

13.76m

Discus C Q - Munro 29th 15.59m
Discus D Q - Simmons

Q - Chambers

7th

17th

20.33m

15.73m

Javelin A Q - Renalson

Final - Renalson

2nd

2nd

18.41m

19.48m

Javelin B Q - Hooper

Final - Hooper

Q - Moretti

5th

5th

12th

18.59m

19.30m

15.61m

Javelin C Q - Munro 30th 13.22m
Javelin D Q - Simmons

Q - Chambers

7th

19th

19.43m

14.30m

Club Throw A Q - Renalson

Final - Renalson

1st

1st

35.97m

39.02m

Club Throw B Q - Hooper

Q - Moretti

8th

13th

32.96m

26.70m

Club Throw C Q - Munro 22nd 27.55m
Club Throw D Q - Simmons

Q - Chambers

13th

23rd

32.47m

24.08m

Precision Javelin Open Q - Hooper

Final - Hooper

Q - Simmons

Final - Simmons

Q - Ponta

Q - Coombs

2nd

5th

2nd

6th

24th

49th

72

62

72

60

64

60

Pentathlon Complete Ponta 7th 2016
Pentathlon Incomplete Chambers 9th 1962
Women Novice 60m A Heat - Dodd

Final - Dodd

2nd

3rd

20.90s

20.70s

Novice 60m C Heat - O’Brien

Heat - Workman

13th

17th

20.00s

22.10s

Wheelchair 60m B Heat - Schreiber

Final - Schreiber

6th

5th

24.80s

21.40s

Wheelchair 60m C Heat - Hilton

Final - Hilton

5th

3rd

18.60s

18.10s

4x40m Open Heat 8th 56.50s
Slalom A Dodd 2nd 1:31:70min
Slalom C O’Brien

Workman

Loydstrom

3rd

6th

20th

1:19:30min

1:21:60min

1:40:20min

Shot Put A Q - Dodd

Final - Dodd

5th

5th

3.90m

3.90m

Shot Put B Schreiber 10th 3.68m
Shot Put C Q - Loydstrom

Q - Smith

14th

21st

4.24m

3.73m

Shot Put D Q - O’Brien 12th 3.60m
Discus A Q - Dodd

Final - Dodd

4th

5th

10.20m

10.23m

Discus B Q - Schreiber 12th 7.61m
Discus C Q - Loydstrom

Final - Loydstrom

Q - Workman

3rd

4th

22nd

14.26m

14.26m

8.69m

Discus D Q - O’Brien 10th 9.28m
Javelin A Q - Dodd

Final - Dodd

4th

4th

8.67m

8.71m

Javelin B Q - Schreiber

Final - Schreiber

6th

6th

9.46m

9.46m

Javelin C Q - Loydstrom

Q - Smith

Q - Workman

10th

20th

23rd

9.73m

8.17m

6.74m

Javelin D Q - Hilton

Final - Hilton

Q - O’brien

5th

5th

9th

10.40m

10.40m

9.74m

Club Throw A Q - Dodd

Final - Dodd

6th

4th

17.28m

18.36m

Club Throw B Q - Schreiber

Final - Schreiber

4th

5th

19.30m

19.30m

Club Throw C Q - Smith

Q - Loydstrom

Q - Workman

9th

10th

17th

20.05m

19.47m

16.85m

Club Throw D Q - Hilton

Q - O’brien

7th

13th

19.65m

14.43m

Precision Javelin Open Q - Smith

Final - Smith

Q - Schreiber

Final - Schreiber

Q - Hilton

Q - Dodd

2nd

5th

7th

4th

36th

43rd

72

66

70

70

58

50

Pentathlon Complete Dodd 4th 2185
Pentathlon Incomplete Loydstrom 5th 1873
Pentathlon Special Class Hilton 3rd 3192

Dartchery

Australia represented by:[1]

MenKevin Bawden, Alan Conn, Roy Fowler, Tony South [8]

Australia's only competitors in the dartchery competed in the Mixed Pairs event, with Kevin Bawden and Roy Fowler being paired up, and the two gold medalists from the individual events, Tony South and Alan Conn, teaming up.[1]

South and Conn made their way to the gold medal match against the US team of Geissinger and Kelderhouse, with the Australian pair coming up short and taking home the silver medal. The Australian team of Bawden and Fowler made it to the round of 16 where they were overcome by the eventual gold medal winning US pair.[9]

Australian athlete results in datchery[1]
Gender Event Team Match Score/Time
Mixed Pairs Open Conn/South vs India 1/16 Win
Conn/South vs USA 1/8 Win
Conn/South vs Belgium Quarterfinal Win
Conn/South vs Italy Semifinal Win
Conn/South vs USA Final Loss
Bawden/Fowler vs Sweden 1/16th Win
Bawden/Fowler vs USA 1/8th Loss

Lawn Bowls

Lawn bowls was a sport that was first included in the Paralympics in 1968. The events that took place were the Men's Singles, Men's Pairs, Women's Singles and Women's Pairs. According to official records of the games, there were no Australian athletes that competed in the Lawn Bowls competition in Tel Aviv.[2][7][1]

Snooker

Australia represented by:

Men – John Beattie, John Newton[6] [8]

John Newton finished with a bronze medal after losing his semifinal to eventual gold medallist, Great Britain's Michael Shelton.[9]

Men's Tournament open was the only Snooker event at the Games. John Newton advanced to the semifinals after defeating Italy's Gambatesa but lost the semifinal to Michael Shelton from Great Britain, who went on to win the gold medal, to finish equal third with Ruschioni from Italy.[1][21]

Australian athlete results in snooker[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Score/Time
Men Tournament Open AUS vs Italy Quarterfinal Win
AUS vs GBR Semifinal Loss

Swimming

Australia represented by:[1]

Men – Felix Blums, Brian Chambers, Gary Hooper, Bill Mather-Brown, Alan McLucas, Frank Ponta, Jeff Simmonds, Don Watts

WomenLorraine Dodd, Elizabeth Edmondson, Daphne Hilton, Sally Lamb, Cherrie Loydstrom [8]

Australia's females dominated the pool, with Lorraine Dodd and Elizabeth Edmondson setting five World Records between them at the Games.[17][1] Dodd set three World Records on her way to three gold medals in the 25m Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle Class 2 Complete events.[17][1] Edmondson's two gold medals also came in world-record time; one in the Freestyle 50m Class 4 Incomplete and the other in the Freestyle 100m Open event.[9]

Daphne Hilton followed up her pair of bronze medals in Athletics with a silver medal in the Class 5 (cauda equina) 50m Freestyle event, demonstrating a lot of range with her athletic abilities.[9]

Edmondson finished the Backstroke 50m C4 Incomplete event with a silver medal despite her final time being slower than her qualifying time.[1] Chambers ranked first in his heat of the same event but was not fast enough to make the final.[1] While America and Great Britain significantly surpassed every other nation in the Swimming medal tally, Australia took away 11 medals from the Swimming events alone, which demonstrated a very successful event for the Australian team at the 1968 Paralympic Games.[14][1][17]

Australia athlete results in swimming[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Score/Time
Freestyle 25m C2 Complete Heat - McLucas in Overall 3rd

9th

51.00s
Freestyle 25m C2 Incomplete Heat - Mather-Brown Final – Mather-Brown 2nd

5th

27.00s

27.60s

Freestyle 50m C3 Incomplete Heat - Watts 4th 50.80s
Freestyle 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Simmons

Heat – Chambers

Final - Chambers

4th

2nd

6th

44.70s

43.40s

41.90s

Backstroke 25m C2 Complete Heat - Ponta

Final – Ponta

Heat - McLucas

1st

3rd

4th

30.80s

30.90s

44.90s

Backstroke 25m C2 Incomplete Heat - Mather-Brown 3rd 38.20s
Backstroke 50m C3 Complete Heat - Simmons

Final - Simmons

1st

4th

1:05:80min

1:07:80min

Backstroke 50m C4 Complete Heat - Blums 4th 1:49:70min
Backstroke 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Chambers 1st 53.80s
Breaststroke 25m C2 Complete Heat - Ponta

Final - Ponta

3rd

5th

35.50s

36.50s

Breaststroke 25m C2 Incomplete Heat - Mather-Brown 3rd 39.30s
Breaststroke 50m C3 Complete Heat – Simmons

Final - Simmons

1st

2nd

1:02:20min

1:02:60min

Breaststroke 50m C3 Incomplete Heat – Watts

Final – Watts

Heat - Hooper

1st

2nd

6th

1:00:40min

59.50s

1:46:10min

Breaststroke 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Chambers 4th 1:08:50min
3x50m Medley Relay Open AUS 9th 2:41:80min
Women Freestyle 25m C2 Complete Heat - Dodd

Final – Dodd

1st

1st

27.20s

26.90s

Freestyle 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Edmondson

Final – Edmondson

Heat – Loydstrom

Final - Loydstrom

1st

1st

2nd

6th

44.00s

44.10s

1:01:40min

1:06:50min

Freestyle 50m C5 Cauda Equina Final - Hilton 2nd 46.50s
Freestyle 100m Open Final – Edmondson

Final - Hilton

1st

5th

1:33:00min

1:48:50min

Backstroke 25m C2 Complete Heat - Dodd

Final - Dodd

1st

1st

32.80s

32.00s

Backstroke 25m C2 Incomplete Heat – Lamb

Final - Lamb

2nd

2nd

32.90s

32.00s

Backstroke 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Edmondson Final – Edmondson

Heat - Loydstrom

1st

2nd

4th

49.90s

52.30s

1:16:40min

Backstroke 50m C5 Cauda Equina Heat - Hilton DQ
Breaststroke 25m C2 Complete Heat - Dodd

Final - Dodd

1st

1st

33.00s

32.80s

Breaststroke 25m C2 Incomplete Heat - Lamb

Final - Lamb

2nd

4th

38.60s

38.80s

Breaststroke 50m C4 Incomplete Heat - Loydstrom 4th 1:36:00min
3x50m Medley Relay Open 5th 3:03:60min

See also: Table tennis at the 1968 Summer Paralympics

Australia represented by:[1]

MenKevin Bawden, Alan Conn, Kevin Coombs, John Martin, Bill Mather-Brown, Alan McLucas, Bruno Moretti, Jimmy Newton, Tony South, Don Watts

WomenLorraine Dodd, Daphne Hilton, Cherrie Ireland, Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber, Pam Smith [8]

Australia, had many athletes compete in Table Tennis in Tel Aviv, as did most nations that attended the Games.[1] Both men's doubles teams were beaten and eliminated in the first round of the Men's Doubles B and C events but the Women's Doubles C team of Marion O'Brien and Elaine Schreiber won their way to the gold medal match where they played Great Britain's pairing of Bryant and Carol Barnard, eventually going down and finishing in second place and the silver medal.[1] The next highest ranking achieved by Australia was Martin, Kraft and O’brien all making the quarterfinal of their respective events.[1] Great Britain, America and Germany all proved to be the most challenging teams for Australia as they topped the medal tally in Table Tennis along with the host nation, Israel.[8][1]

Australian athlete results in table tennis[1]
Gender Event Athlete Match Score/Time
Singles A2 McLucas 1/8th Win 1 - Loss 1
Singles B Moretti

Newton

Mather-Brown

1/16th

1/16th

1/32nd

Win 1 - Loss 1

Win 1 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Singles C Martin

Watts

Coombs

QF

1/32nd

1/32nd

Win 3 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Doubles B Conn/South

Moretti/Newton

1/16th

1/16th

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Doubles C Coomb/Mather-Brown

Martin/Watts

1/16th

1/16th

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Singles B Dodd 1/16th Win 0 – Loss 1
Singles C Smith

Hilton

Kraft

Loydstrom

O’Brien

1/32nd

1/16th

QF

1/32nd

QF

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 3 – Loss 1

Win 0 – Loss 1

Win 3 – Loss 1

Doubles C O’Brien/Schreiber

Loydstrom/Smith

Final

1/8th

Win 4 – Loss 1

Win 1 – Loss 1

Weightlifting

Australia represented by:[1]

MenGary Hooper, Vic Renalson [8]

The Weightlifting event had four different weight classifications but the only lift discipline was the Bench Press lift.[7] Vic Renalson picked up his third gold medal of the Games in the Heavyweight lifting event, with a lift of 200 kg not being challenged by the other competitors.[9] Hooper just missed out on receiving a medal in the Lightweight event, equaling the weight lifted by Jamaica but placing fourth.[1]

Australian athlete results in weightlifting[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Weight
Lightweight Hooper 4th 110 kg
Heavyweight Renalson 1st 200 kg

Wheelchair basketball

Australia represented by:[1]

MenKevin Bawden, Peter Burt, Brian Chambers, Kevin Cunningham, Kevin Coombs, Bill Mather-Brown, John Martin, Robert McIntyre, Bruno Moretti, Frank Ponta, Noel Simmons, Don Watts

Basketball at the 1968 Paralympic Games was played outdoors on a polished brick court late in the afternoon under lights.[5][7][2] Basketball was an important event to the Australian male Basketball athletes but they did not place as well as they wanted, coming in 5th overall.[18][4][1] In Pool D, Australia lost to both Italy and Argentina and as a result, Australia did not proceed to the medal rounds.[1] A classification event was played, in which the Australian team won against both Germany and Sweden and were placed 5th overall.[8][11] The Basketball final in Tel Aviv was said to be the highlight of the 1968 Paralympic Games in which America played the home team of Israel.[4][2] While Australia did not compete in this match, the team has described what an insight this was and that they took a lot from the game and the athletes in that final.[8]

Event: Men and new women comp that we did not have a team for

Australian athlete results in wheelchair basketball[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Score/Time
Men Wheelchair Basketball AUS vs Italy Loss 23-37
AUS vs Argentina Loss 20-24
Classification AUS vs Germany Win 37-22
AUS vs Sweden Win 43-22

Wheelchair fencing

Australia represented by:[1]

MenKevin Bawden, Gary Hooper, John Martin, Jimmy Newton

WomenDaphne Hilton, Pam Smith, Di Workman [8]

Australia had multiple participants in the Wheelchair Fencing events in Tel Aviv, however, this was not their strongest event.[8][1] Hooper was successful in all five matches in his pool in the Men's Foil Individual event but did not progress past the second round of games as he was defeated by France, Italy and Great Britain.[1] Hilton was the only other athlete to progress into round two and she placed 5th in the Women's Foil Individual event.[1]

Australian Athlete Results in Wheelchair Fencing[1]
Gender Event Athlete Place Score/Time
Men Épée Individual Pool - Newton 5th Win 2 – Lost 4
Foil Individual Pool – Newton

Pool – Hooper

2nd Round - Hooper

6th

1st

Win 0 – Lost 5

Won 5 – Lost 0

Win 0 – Lost 5

Novice Foil Pool – Bawden

Pool - Martin

4th

4th

Won 1 – Lost 3

Won 0 – Lost 3

Women Foil Individual Pool – Workman

Pool – Hilton

2nd Round - Hilton

4th

3rd

5th

Won 2 – Lost 3

Won 2 – Lost 3

Won 2 – Lost 3

Novice Foil Pool - Smith 5th Won 0 – Lost 4

Medalists

While the 1968 Paralympic Games official medal tally was not incorporated in the games, after adding the final official results it was found that Australia ranked 4th in the nation with the most medals.[2][1] Australia won 15 Gold, 16 Silver and 7 Bronze, and was behind the United States of America, Great Britain and Israel on the medal tally but nonetheless achieved a very successful result in the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv.[8][1][2] A full list of Australia's medal winners is depicted below.[1]

Outstanding Performances

Tony South medal Tel Aviv 1968

Among the Australian athlete team there were clearly a number of standout athletes whose performances at the 1968 Paralympic Games are worth acknowledging. These are athletes who have set world records, won numerous medals and/or participated in a large number of events in Tel Aviv.

Tony South competed in 3 different sports, a total of 4 events and also won a gold medal in Men's Archery Albion Round Open and Silver in the Men's Archery FITA Round Open as well as Men's Dartchery Mixed Pairs Open.[1] While he did not medal in Table Tennis, he won medals in all three of the four events he competed in.

Lorraine Dodd had one of the highest achieving performances of the Australian team at these Games. In swimming Dodd competed in, won the gold medal and set a new world record in the Women's Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke 25m Class 2 Complete, all in the same day.[17][8][1][24] Dodd also competed Table Tennis and in 9 Athletic events where she won a silver medal for Women's Slalom A and a bronze medal in the Women's Novice 60m Wheelchair Dash A.[1] She not only participated in a large number of event but she performed well enough to win a total of 5 medals in the 1968 Paralympics, more than any Australian athlete at these games.[1]

Daphne Hilton also competed in a large number of events in Tel Aviv which were five Athletics events, three Swimming events, one Table Tennis event and Fencing (results). Hilton won a silver medal in the Women's 50m Freestyle Class 5 (cauda equina) and a bronze medal in the Women's 60m Wheelchair C and Women's Pentathlon Special Class.[17][5][8][1]

Gary Hoper competed in a total of 12 events in Tel Aviv, nine Athletics events, one Swimming, one Weightlifting and one Fencing even.[1] Hooper completed the Games with a gold medal in Men's 100m Wheelchair A Sprint, Silver in the Men's 4x40m Relay Open (Athletics) and a silver medal in the Men's Shot Put B.[1]

Bill Mather-Brown represented Australia in two Athletics events, three Swimming events, two Table Tennis events and in the Men's Basketball, competing in a total of 8 events.[1] Mather-Brown was able to secure a silver medal in the Men's Slalom A event.[1]

Bruno Moretti's won a gold medal for the Men's Slalom A, a silver medal in the Men's 100m Wheelchair A and a silver medal in the Men's 4x40m Relay Open (Athletics).[1] Moretti also competed in three other Athletics events, two Table Tennis events and Men's Basketball.[1]

Vic Renalson's results at the 1968 Paralympic Games were one of the most successful from Australia's team. Renalson won a gold medal in Men's club throw A, Men's discuss A, heavyweight weightlifting, a silver medal in Men's javelin A and a bronze medal in Men's shot put A, winning a medal in every event he competed in.[1]

Elizabeth Edmondson won a medal in all the events she competed in at the Games but she also set two world records in the events in which she won the gold medal for.[1] Edmondson won the gold medal and broke the world record in the Women's 50m freestyle class 4 incomplete and the Women's 100m Freestyle Open.[1] The third and only other event Edmondson participated in was the Women's 50m backstroke class 4 incomplete in which she won a silver medal.[1]

The final standout athlete from the Games in the Australian team was Allan McLucas who competed in four different sports as well as won two medals. McLucas won a gold medal in the Men's slalom cervical event and a silver medal in the Men's Archery St. Nicholas round cervical event.[1] While no podium finish was achieved, McLucas also competed in the Men's freestyle and backstroke 25m class 2 complete events at the 1968 Paralympic Games.[1]

Politics

The Paralympic Games were held Israel approximately one year after the Six Day War took place between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan.[20][8][4] Australian athletes were accompanied by female army staff throughout the duration of the Games. Armed army officers were present at the games and on the streets and many athletes recall seeing damaged tanks, cars and bullet holes during their time at the Games.[8] The presence and abundance of these aspects could have been exaggerated or seen to stand out due to the Australia athletes potentially not have been exposed to anything like this prior, however, many athletes recall that these were present in Israel during the Games and left them with a feeling of slight apprehension at times.

After competition had finished, Daphne Hilton and other athletes attended a marketplace in Maccabi, Israel when gunfire broke out and the Army got involved.[8] These recounts describe potential political unrest in Israel during the Paralympic Games in 1968. However, the details are not well documented and are simply the Australian teams interpretation of the situation. At a Paralympic dinner event in Israel that followed the games, Israeli personnel discussed how they do not want peace and not to fight. No threatening events or disruption or hostile events occurred during the Paralympic Games and remnants are not an indicator of the actual situation in Israel at the time.[20][8]

An incidence of racial discrimination towards Australian team member Kevin Coombs was stated by Coobs and other athletes and support staff to have taken place stemming from a South African athlete in a bar at the Maccabi Village during the Games.[5] Coombs and Billy Mather-Brown recall an athlete saying out loud to Coombs "What, are they opening a bar for niggers now?". This is potentially related to why South Africa were banned from participating in the Summer Olympic Games that same year.[20][2][5] Although, this appeared to be an isolated incident and was resolved soon after as the athlete apologised.

There was a policy arranged by Israel with Britain to have Rhodesian athletes enter the country without their passports being checked to eliminate political issues associated with their participation in the Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv as their Olympic team were banned from the Olympics in Mexico in 1968 by Britain as a result of national racial and political issues that occurred at the time.[20][2] There was also a policy in place in Israel at the time that required the German athletes and staff to complete a questionnaire regarding their political past and if and what category they had been denazified in, this was due to issues surrounding the Holocaust that occurred many years earlier.[2] The official medal tally, raising of national flags and playing national anthems for medal presentations were completely removed from the games in an attempt to reduce the political competitiveness between nations as it was reportedly seen at the 1968 Summer Olympics.[2] There were a number of political issues that were factored into the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv and, like those experienced by Kevin Coombs, some did affect the Australian team.

Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony took place at the Tel Aviv Fair Grounds on 13 November. Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon and the Mayor of Tel Aviv, Mordechai Namir, were both in attendance for the ceremony to see trophies presented to athletes, as well as a display by dancers from three local kibbutzim. Allon thanked participants for their involvement and contribution to world unity, and declared the Games closed.[6]

Post Games

Following the Games, the Australian team visited a Kibbutz near Lake Tiberias where they were provided with lunch and received a small bottle of holy water each on their return (stoke to mandeville, NLA). When travelling back to Australia, the team spent two days in Bangkok, followed by three days in Singapore. While in Singapore, the Australian team demonstrated sport to local paraplegics.[12][25] In support of the Australian Athletes and the Games, Australia Post introduced stamps of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the first time in 1968 of the Mexico Olympics and the Paralympics in Tel Aviv.[2]

Reunions

In June 2013, four South Australia members of the 1968 Australian Paralympics Team relived memories as part of the Australian Paralympic Committee history project.[26] Archer Pam McLeod née Smith and wheelchair sprinter Kevin Munro were joined by Libby Kosmala and team nurse Janet Tyler. Kosmala who went on to compete in a record eleven Paralympic Games commented that: In those days athletes had to use their everyday chair to compete in, now they've got specialized chairs for all sports from sprinting to basketball to shooting.[26] The 1968 Games were the first Games where South Australia athletes had been selected for Australia.[26] `

See also

References

  1. International Paralympic Committee: Paralympic Results
  2. Brittain, Ian. From Stoke-Mandeville to Stratford: A History of the Summer Paralympic Games. Illinois: Common Ground, 2012.
  3. Bailey, Steven. Athlete First: A History of the Paralympic Movement. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2008
  4. International Paralympic Committee (9 November 2012). "44th Anniversary of the 1968 Paralympic Games". Paralympic Movement Media Center. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  5. Coombs, Kevin. A Fortunate Accident: A Boy from Balranald. Melbourne: Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, 2005
  6. Brittain, Ian. From Stoke-Mandeville to Stratford: A History of the Summer Paralympic Games. Illinois: Common Ground, 2012
  7. Brittain, I (2016). The Paralympic Games explained. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
  8. Jobling, Ian F.; Naar, Tony; Hanley, Marian (1 September 2012). "The Australian Paralympic Oral History Project: Remembering, reflecting, recording and promoting disability in sport". International Journal of Disability, Development and Education. 59 (3): 295–303. doi:10.1080/1034912x.2012.697746. ISSN 1034-912X.
  9. Legg, David; Steadward, Robert (1 November 2011). "The Paralympic Games and 60 years of change (1948–2008): unification and restructuring from a disability and medical model to sport-based competition". Sport in Society. 14 (9): 1099–1115. doi:10.1080/17430437.2011.614767. ISSN 1743-0437.
  10. DePauw, Karen P. (1 March 2012). "A Historical Perspective of the Paralympic Games". Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 83 (3): 21–31. doi:10.1080/07303084.2012.10598739. ISSN 0730-3084.
  11. Smith, J (2011). Pushing Strong: Celebrating fifty years of wheelchair sports NSW 1961-2011. Caringbah, NSW: Playright Publishing.
  12. Thornburgh, B (2011). "Paralympics honours the man who started it all". ProQuest. ProQuest 1034110986.
  13. "1968 - Tel Aviv". Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  14. "Overview of each Paralympic Games from Rome 1960 to Beijing 2008 Paralympics | British Paralympic Association". British Paralympic Association. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  15. Adair & Vamplew, D. W. (1997). Sport in Australian history. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
  16. "Australia key to integration of Para-sport at Commonwealth Games | Australian Paralympic Committee". www.paralympic.org.au. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  17. "Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame | Australian Paralympic Committee". www.paralympic.org.au. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  18. "Interview with Paralympic legend Tony South | Australian Paralympic Committee". www.paralympic.org.au. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  19. "This Week in History: Israel hosts the Paralympics". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  20. Howe, D.P. (2008). The cultural politics of the Paralympic movement. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
  21. 1968 Paralympics Games Papers of Elizabeth Edmondson. Perth: Australian Paraplegic Council. 1968.
  22. Coombs, Kevin (2005). A fortunate accident – a boy from Balranald. Melbourne: Aboriginal Press Victoria. pp. 31–32.
  23. "Para Archery Teams". www.archery.org.au. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  24. WAIS. "WAIS". wais.org.au. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  25. Report and accounts. Perth: Paraplegic Association of Western Australia. 1968. p. 8.
  26. Homfray, Reece (24 June 2013). "First SA Paralympians reunite 45 years on". Adelaide Advertiser.

Further reading

Several oral histories are available online from Australian athletes who competed at the Games.

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