Rhiannon Clarke

‘This Is The Path For Me’ 

She’s broken records and won a swag of medals, so it seems surprising that Rhiannon Clarke never felt confident in her running abilities. 

When Clarke was younger, she struggled to find anyone like her. 

“Growing up I didn’t really see many people with a similar type of cerebral palsy competing and doing sport or in the media and stuff like that,” Clarke said.  

“So I was never confident in my running abilities.” 

That all changed when Clarke went along to a Para-athletics ‘Come and Try’ day. 

“I realised ‘Yeah, this is probably the path for me, this is definitely the path for me’,” she said.  

At the Tokyo Paralympic Games Clarke was a finalist in the 100m T38 where she came fifth. She then came in seventh in the 400m T38, breaking an Australian record.  

Since then, she’s been busy on and off the track.  

“Throughout my journey I’ve heard lots of different things from lots of different people invalidating my disability,” she said.  

“I use that to fuel myself and I know that I’m in this sport for a reason.” 

That reason she says is worth so much more than medals.  

“I really want to show all those young kids out there to be proud of your disability, be proud of yourself – we’re all on amazing journeys,” Clarke said. 

“From that little girl who thought she would never be good at sport to representing Australia five times and winning five international medals – I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve come.”