Tom
O'Neill-Thorne

Widely considered the future of wheelchair basketball in Australia, Darwin teenager Tom O’Neill Thorne was the youngest ever Roller to compete in a world championship when he represented Australia at the 2014 IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Incheon, South Korea.

Born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition affecting mobility in his legs, Tom first got involved in wheelchair basketball at the age of nine.

In his breakout NWBL season he averaged 17.1 points per game for the Queensland Spinning Bullets and in 2013 he led the Australian Spinners to a podium finish at the IWBF U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Adana, Turkey.

The 2015 Northern Territory Junior Sportsperson of the Year, Tom was accepted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program to help him achieve selection for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Making his Games debut, Tom and the Rollers were eliminated from gold medal contention in a 23-point loss to Great Britain in the quarter finals.

At his second 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.

In his spare time Tom referees wheelchair and able-bodied basketball games, and looks forward to one day helping other young athletes with a disability to pursue their dreams.