A career in sport was always on the cards for three-time Paralympic wheelchair rugby player Andrew Edmondson. He had accepted a scholarship to play rugby union at an elite private school in Sydney but soon afterwards broke his neck and acquired incomplete quadriplegia in a body surfing accident at Coogee Beach.
Andew couldn’t play rugby union any longer, however his dream to represent Australia was still within reach.
In 2004, he contacted Paralympics Australia, and over the next 10 years proved himself a future star of the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers.
Andrew made his international debut in 2014 and his Paralympic debut two years later at Rio 2016, where the Steelers became the first team in wheelchair rugby history to win consecutive Paralympic gold medals, defeating the US 59-58 in a double-overtime thriller in front of a full stadium.
In 2018, the Steelers’ six-year reign at major tournaments ended when they were defeated 62-61 by Japan in the final of the World Championships. The rivalry with Japan grew when, at Tokyo 2020, they toppled the Steelers in the Paralympic bronze medal match, the first time in 17 years that the team didn’t win a medal.
Andrew, alongside a core of experienced Steelers, put Australia back on top of the world with victory at the 2022 World Championships and an emotional bronze medal at Paris 2024.
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