Brett
Stibners

Australian wheelchair basketball player Brett Stibners is a champion of his sport.

Two years before he was introduced to wheelchair basketball, Brett fell asleep at the wheel of his van and collided head-on with a truck. He broke just about every bone in his body from the waist down, and spent four months in hospital recovering. For Brett, it was difficult to picture a future for himself, let alone one which would allow him to travel the world playing sport for his country.

But 19 years later, here we are.

Brett made his Paralympic debut at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Together with the Australian wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, he enjoyed a stunning run to the gold medal game. Australia had dropped just one game (to the USA) and ultimately defeated Canada, the reigning Paralympic champions, 60-72.

A world title in 2010 followed, and Brett looked set to match his Paralympic gold medal success at the London 2012 Paralympic Games when the Rollers wrapped up their preliminaries campaign with five wins and zero losses, and defeated Poland by 23 points in the quarter-finals. However, the Canadian team was determined to reclaim top spot, and the Rollers fell 58-64 in the gold medal game.

The Rollers suffered a devastating 23-point loss of their own at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

At Tokyo 2020, The Rollers improved on their sixth-place finish at Rio 2016, beating Turkey in their final match to secure fifth place.