Vanessa
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Vanessa was a two-time Paralympian for Germany before she started representing Australia in 2019. She is a Paralympic gold and silver medallist, eight-time World Championships medallist and the reigning world record holder in the women’s long jump T61. She has worked tirelessly over the last 10 years to establish herself among the best Para-athletics competitors in the world, and given how far she has come since making her international debut in 2009, she has also done plenty to inspire the next generation of track athletes in Australia, Germany and across the globe.

When Vanessa was 15, she accidentally stumbled from an overcrowded platform and into the path of an oncoming train. She lost her left leg above the knee and right leg through the knee, and sustained head and back injuries and multiple broken bones. Vanessa spent the next six months in hospital, and by the time she was discharged, her muscles had wasted away and she weighed just 45kgs. If you had seen her then, you would never have guessed that just a couple of years later she would be competing on the world stage.

Vanessa made her Paralympic debut for Germany at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Although she missed the podium in both her events, she gained crucial international experience, and when she returned to Paralympic competition four years later – as the reigning world champion in the women’s long jump T42, no less – she was ready to make her mark.

Vanessa won a gold and silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, competing for Germany. In the T42 long jump, she claimed her first Paralympic gold medal with a 4.93m world record jump. In the 100m T42 event, she ran a time of 15.17s to win a silver medal.

Vanessa was selected to don the green and gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as a member of the Australian Paralympic Team, giving her the chance to defend her 2016 long jump T42 title. She did not disappoint, breaking her own world record three times in the final, jumping to victory to win her first gold medal for Australia with a final leap of 5.28m.