Let's Go Tokyo Podcast The West Australian

Well, that’s it. It’s all over. We’ve seen elite athletes compete over the last 2 weeks, cheered them on and watched on with their nervous families back home in Aus.

Our Aussie athletes did us proud with a total of 80 Paralympic medals - 21 of them gold.

We finished 8th on the medal tally, with China GB and USA taking out the top 3 spots.

In this final episode of Let's Go Tokyo, we speak with Madison de Rozario's mum abut her incredible marathon feat, and her struggle over the last 5 years to make it to Tokyo.

What a ride it’s been… as we’ve brought you all the action from the Olympics and the Paralympics. 

Tokyo has done the Games proud in an incredibly difficult set of circumstances… And our Aussie athletes have done US proud.

Thanks for joining us… We’ll catch you in three years.
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Wasn’t the first week of the games exciting to watch?

Australia took home 6 gold in ONE day, saw records smashed, have seen Aussie legends in the making, and it seems our Aussie’s knack for post-event comments has continued in the Paralympics!

Lakeisha Patterson started it all off when she said she was “more fried than a chook from KFC” after winning her 400m final but it's this quote from fellow swimmer Grant "Scooter" Patterson (no relation), that will go down in the history books.

Scooter and Ahmed Kelly took out bronze and silver respectively - their first Paralympic medals - in Saturday’s 150m individual medley, and while they were overjoyed to be on the podium together, their fierce rivalry still runs deep into every aspect of their lives.

With Scooter saying: “We even had a race to the toilet this afternoon to see who could poo first” 

By day 6, Australia is sitting eighth on the ladder with 8 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze. But way out in front is China with 47 gold! And 106 medals in total, followed by team GB and USA

And one of those medals went to one of our very own, WA man Ben Popham, who you might also recognise as one of the Telethon stars in 2011.

And we were so lucky to talk to his mum Jennifer on the podcast.
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As Paralympic tennis star Dylan Alcott put it, the warmup is officially over. It’s time for the big show now.

Tonight, we’ll see Danni DiToro, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair table tennis star, and Riley Batts, 5 time Paralympian in the wheelchair rugby, be the flag bearers in the opening ceremony.

The themes this year are ‘moving forward’ and ‘we have wings’ - which encourages athletes to spread their wings, no matter which way the wind is blowing.

Over the next two weeks, more than 4400 athletes will compete for Paralympic glory, and the 179 athletes from Australia will be looking to have another year in the top five on the medal tally.

In this special preview episode of Let's Go Tokyo, Ben and Mark speak to swimming legend and medal of the Order of Australia recipient Priya Cooper ahead of the games, who to watch, and who she'll be paying attention to, in and out of the water.
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In this episode, we speak to Paralympian Robyn Lambird, who will be representing Australia in Tokyo in wheelchair racing.

She talks us through her preparation, and why representation for people with disabilities is so important.

She'll definitely be one to watch. 

Stay tuned in a couple of weeks when Let's Go Tokyo covers the Paralympics.
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Sailing has always been in Matt Wearn's blood. And taking out gold in Tokyo has been the icing on a pretty challenging cake.

I’ll tell you what, one of our favourite moments of the Olympics was speaking to sailing Gold medallist Tessa Parkinson, who was talking about this up and comer sailor named Matt Wearn, who will be one to watch - then the next day he wins gold. 

He took us on his journey through Tokyo, and what it's like to call himself an Olympic Gold medallist.
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Well, what an Olympic Games it was!

Australia finished up 6th, after sitting in 4th spot for most of the games - GB and ROC had a late surge of medals.

In this final episode - for the Tokyo Olympics, Ben and Mark speak to GOLD medallist Matt Wearn, who took us on his journey through Tokyo, and what it's like to call himself an Olympic Gold medallist.

Plus, we speak to Paralympian Robyn Lambird, who will be representing Australia in Tokyo in wheelchair racing. She talks us through her preparation, and why representation for people with disabilities is so important.
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