Jessica Gallagher

Jessica Gallagher

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Gallagher
Personal information
Nationality  Australia
Born 14 March 1986 (age 29)
Geelong, Victoria
Sport
Country Australia
Sport Alpine Skiing
Field athletics
Disability class B3

Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier and track and field athlete. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the Women's Giant Slalom Visually Impaired.[1]

She is legally blind, and represents Australia internationally in two sports: skiing and athletics. Besides her skiing achievements, she has represented Australia in athletics at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, and won a silver and a bronze medal at the 2011 Christchurch IPC Athletics World Championships in long jump and javelin, respectively. She has also represented the state of Victoria as a junior in netball and basketball.

Personal

Wikinews reporters interview Australian Paralympic skier Jessica Gallagher and her guide Eric Bickerton

Gallagher was born on 14 March 1986 and lives in the Geelong suburb of Highton.[2] In 2009, she graduated from RMIT University with a Master of Osteopathy,[3] and is a registered osteopath.[2][4]

At the time of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics, she was dating the American Paralympic sitting ski slalomer Gerald Hayden.[5] She is an ambassador for the Australian Paralympic Committee,[6] Vision Australia,[7] Seeing Eye Dogs Australia,[8] Vision 2020 Australia,[9] Kx Pilates[10] and 2XU.[10]

She is legally blind due to Best's disease, a rare condition.[3][11] She started to lose her eyesight when she was a teenager, having received the results of tests while she was competing at the U17 national netball championships.[12]

Gallagher was selected to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in long jumping, 100 m, shot put and discus, but she failed her classification test because the classifiers said the eyesight in her right eye was 0.01% too good. In November 2009, her classification was revisited due to deterioration of her vision and she was deemed eligible to compete.[11][13] She is aiming to become the first Australian Paralympic competitor to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.[14]

Sports

Netball, basketball and snowboarding

She played netball and basketball with able-bodied competitors,[14] having first participated at the elite level in both sports as she started to lose her vision.[15] In netball, she was a goal keeper and goal attack, represented Victoria several times and was named as an emergency for the Australian U16 team. In the Victorian league's Championship Division, she represented both Palladians and Altona Lightning. In basketball, she represented the Geelong Cats for five years and also represented Victoria Country. At that time, her goal was to become a professional netball or basketball player. As well, she played netball in the Geelong Football / Netball League, representing South Barwon and Leopold. Despite her low vision and missing one third of the games due to her Paralympic training program, she won the A grade Best and Fairest Award in 2007, representing Leopold.

Gallagher is also a snowboarder, having taken up the sport while on a working holiday in Vail, Colorado before she found out about the Winter Paralympic Games.[11]

Competitive skiing

Jessica Gallagher with sighted guide Christian Geiger in December 2013. The microphones allow them to communicate with each other.

Gallagher was the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics, and Australia's second female Winter Paralympian.[16] She was given the opportunity to compete at the highest levels in skiing after being identified during a talent search and because of her snowboarding experience. As she is blind, she competes with a guide with Eric Bickerton being her first guide.[2] She is coached by Steve Graham,[13] who also coached Michael Milton[17] and is the current head coach of the Australian Institute of Sport's Winter Paralympic program.[18][19] Her Australian training base is at the Victorian Institute of Sport's training centre located at Lakeside Stadium in South Melbourne.[20] While actively training six days a week, her individual training sessions will last between two to three hours each a total of ten to twelve sessions by the end of the week.[21]

Gallagher first represented Australia in 2009 at the New Zealand Winter Games, where she won a gold medal. In January 2010, she competed at her first IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup event in Austria and won a bronze medal in slalom.[2][10] Before the start of the 2010 Games, she had competed in nine World Cup events.[13] On her 24th birthday,[13] she won a bronze medal at the Vancouver games in the Women's Slalom visually impaired event,[22] becoming the first Australian woman to do so.[16] In her first and second time down the hill, she finished third both times,[16][23] She also competed in the Women's Giant Slalom visually impaired event at the 2010 Games,[22] finishing seventh after headset issues that caused problems with communication.[24]

In 2013, at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Thredbo, New South Wales, several weeks after taking on her new guide, Christian Geiger, she won two silver medals in giant slalom and slalom.[2] At the 2014 Sochi Paralympics, Gallagher (guided by Geiger) won a bronze medal in the Women's Giant Slalom Visually Impaired and came seventh in the Women's Giant Slalom Visually Impaired.[1]

She has been in the Australian Institute of Sport Alpine Skiing Program since 2009.[25]

Australia's National Sports Museum put several items related to her on display after her bronze medal win at the 2010 Vancouver Games.[7]

Competitive athletics

Gallagher is an athletics competitor,[6] competing in long jump, discus, shot put, javelin and sprinting,[14][21] She became involved in athletics after learning about the Paralympics.[12] At the skills assessment, the classifiers had her try shot put and, despite being dressed in casual athletic attire, she managed a throw that met the Paralympic qualifying distance.[12] After a year of training, she increased this initial distance by 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) to have a personal best throw of over 12 metres (39 ft).[12] She holds several records in the F13 classification, including Australian and Oceanian records in the long jump, javelin and shot put, and an Australian record in discus.[3] In athletics, her coaches have included Mike Edwards and John Boas. In January 2011, she competed at the 2011 Christchurch IPC Athletics World Championships, where she finished second in the long jump and third in the javelin throw event, with a throw of 33.75 metres (110.7 ft). Her appearance at the championships marked her return to the sport after having taken a break to compete in skiing.[26]

At the 2012 London Paralympics, Gallagher competed in the Women's Long Jump F13 and Women's Javelin Throw F12/13 events, finishing fifth and sixth respectively.[22][27][28] Gallagher was disappointed with these result, having suffered a severe tear in her meniscus during training that forced her to use crutches in the month leading up to the competition.[29]

In a 2014 interview Gallagher expressed what competing at Summer and Winter Paralymics meant to her. She said :I love the unique cultural experience each host city brings. Ultimately, competing for your country on the worlds biggest sporting stage is a pinnacle. It brings memories and experiences that last a lifetime.[30]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Paxinos, Stathi (16 March 2014). "Sochi Winter Paralympics: Jess Gallagher wins giant slalom bronze". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Jessica Gallagher". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "RMIT graduate makes Paralympics history". RMIT. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "RMIT graduate makes Paralympics history". RMIT University. 17 March 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Daniel. "Gallagher claims Australia's first medal". Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia). Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Jessica Gallagher". Athletics Australia. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Don't miss this opportunity to learn to Ski at Mt Baw Baw". Vision Australia. 12 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Our ambassadors and patrons". Seeing Eye Dogs Australia. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Jessica Gallagher". Vision 2020 Australia. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Jessica Gallagher". The Sports Vault. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Marinos, Sarah (4 September 2012). "Going for gold". The Weekly Review. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Silkstone, Dan (14 April 2010). "Turning Point". The Age (Melbourne, Victoria). Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 McDonald, Margie (15 March 2010). "Jessica Gallagher rejoices in Paralympic history". The Australian (Sydney, Australia). Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Jessica Gallagher". Australian Institute of Sport. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Paralympic Heroes". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Skier Jessica Gallagher first Australian woman to win Paralympic medal". Adelaide Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 15 March 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  17. ↑ "Take It to the Limit – Transcript". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  18. ↑ "Paralympic Alpine Skiing Home". Australian Institute of Sport. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  19. ↑ "AIS Athlete of the Year Finalists named". Australian Olympic Committee. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  20. ↑ "Jessica Gallagher". Victorian Institute of Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Jessica Gallagher". Sport for Women. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Jessica Gallagher's profile on paralympic.org. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  23. ↑ "Jessica Gallagher Paralympic medal a first for Aussie women". Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria). 15 March 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  24. ↑ Caruana, Patrick (17 March 2010). "Aussies struggle in fog at Creekside". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  25. ↑ "Athlete Spotlight: Jessica Gallagher". Australian Institute of Sport. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  26. ↑ "Gallagher proves herself with world championships bronze". Australia: Athletics Australia. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  27. ↑ "Women's Long Jump F13 results". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  28. ↑ "Women's Javelin F12/13 results". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  29. ↑ "London 2012". Jessica Gallagher's blog. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  30. ↑ "Jessica Gallagher". Jetstar Magazine: 136. March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.

External links