Before becoming a quadriplegic as a passenger in a car accident at 16, four-time Paralympian and long-time captain of the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers, Ryan Scott was an avid surfer and enjoyed playing football, soccer and basketball. While the force of the crash pinned Ryan’s head to his stomach, causing irreparable damage to his spinal cord, it did not take him long to rediscover his passion for sport through wheelchair rugby, representing Australia for the first time just three years later at the 2001 IWRF Oceania Zone Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand. Ryan would go on to captain …
Read MoreBefore becoming a quadriplegic as a passenger in a car accident at 16, four-time Paralympian and long-time captain of the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers, Ryan Scott was an avid surfer and enjoyed playing football, soccer and basketball.
While the force of the crash pinned Ryan’s head to his stomach, causing irreparable damage to his spinal cord, it did not take him long to rediscover his passion for sport through wheelchair rugby, representing Australia for the first time just three years later at the 2001 IWRF Oceania Zone Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand. Ryan would go on to captain the most successful wheelchair rugby team in history.
After placing fifth on debut at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, Ryan put in an immense amount of work over the next four years to ensure the Steelers reached the Paralympic podium at Beijing 2008. Following an unbeaten run to the final, the Steelers did one better, climbing three places to return home with silver.
In 2012 he co-captained the Steelers to their first Paralympic gold medal, before matching this effort in 2014 at the IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championship in Odense, Denmark, where he captained them to a 67-56 victory over Canada in the gold medal match to win their first ever World crown.
Following this series of stunning victories, the Steelers then became the first team in wheelchair rugby history to win consecutive Paralympic gold medals and a World Championship title in a four-year period, defeating their perennial rivals, the United States, 59-58 in a double-overtime thriller at Rio 2016.
Although their overwhelming odds-on favouritism to defend their World title in Sydney in August took a hit in 2018 with minor placings at the Wheelchair Rugby Quad Nations in Leicester, England and Canada Cup in Vancouver, Canada, the Steelers are confident that Ryan’s 16-plus years of international experience will help them deliver the team’s first major win on home soil.
Off the court, Ryan enjoys spending time with his friends and watching live sport.
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