Amy Winters

^[1]

Amy Winters

Winters celebrates her gold medal winning run in the 100 m T46 at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.
Personal information
Full name	Amy Louise Winters
Nationality	Australia
Born	19 March 1978 Kempsey, New South Wales
Medal record Athletics Paralympic Games 1996 Atlanta Women's 200 m T42-46 2000 Sydney Women's 100 m T46 2000 Sydney Women's 200 m T46 2004 Athens Women's 100 m T46 2004 Athens Women's 200 m T46 1996 Atlanta Women's 100 m T42-46 2000 Sydney Women's 400 m T46 IPC Athletics World Championships 1998 Berlin Women's 100 m T46 1998 Berlin Women's 200 m T46 1994 Berlin Women's 100 m T45-46 1994 Berlin Women's 200 m T45-46 1994 Berlin Women's Long Jump m T45-46

Winters celebrates one of her two gold medal wins at the 2000 Summer Paralympics

Winters shown smiling pre race at the 2000 Summer Paralympics

Amy Louise Winters, OAM^[2] (born 19 March 1978)^[3] is an arm amputee Australian Paralympic athlete. She won seven medals at three Paralympics including five gold medals.

She was born in Kempsey, New South Wales without her lower right arm.^[4] She has two older sisters.^[1] She attended Kempsey High School and after leaving school in 1995 worked for Kempsey Shire Council. Whilst in Kempsey, she was coached by Lloyd Smith.^[1][5] At the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin, she won silver medals in the Women's 100, and 200 m and long jump T45-46 events. She made her Paralympics debut as an 18-year-old at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she won a gold medal in the Women's 200 m T42-46 event, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia,^[2] and a bronze medal in the Women's 100 m T42-46 event.^[6] After the Atlanta Games, She moved to Sydney after she was offered a job with Westpac under the Paralympic Employment Program for elite athletes with disabilities. In Sydney she was coached by Col Wright.^[1] At the 1998 IPC Athletics World Championships in Birmingham, she won gold medals in the Women's 100 m and 200m T46 events.

At 2000 Sydney Games, she won two gold medals in the 100 m T46 and 200 m T46 events, and a bronze medal in the 400 m T46 event.^[6] She felt under enormous pressure going into the Sydney Games due to being the 200 m title holder from Atlanta. She said "“I did feel a lot of pressure, but the greatest pressure I felt was the pressure I put on myself. I remember before my final in the 200m, I felt like I was going to be physically sick. I’d never felt like that before. My usual mindset was ‘whatever happens happens."^[4] She won two more gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games in the 100 m and 200 m T46 events.^[6] She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder in the lead up to the Athens Games and was coached by Iryna Dvoskina.^[7] She retired in 2005.^[4]

In 2012, she is Australian Paralympic Committee's Manager, Marketing and Sponsorship.^[8] She is married to Sean and in January 2010 she gave birth to their first child Tom.^[4]

Recognition

• 1996 - OAM^[2]
• 2000 - Australian Sports Medal^[9]
• 2009 - inducted in the Little Athletics Roll of Excellence^[10]
• 2012 - inducted into New South Wales Hall of Champions^[11]
• 2014 - inducted into the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Path of Champions^[12]

References