Amy Louise Winters, OAM (born 19 March 1978) is an arm amputee Australian Paralympic athlete. She won seven medals at three Paralympic Games, including five gold medals.

Career

271000 - Athletics track T46 Amy Winters gold medal podium - 3b - 2000 Sydney podium photo

141100 - Athletics track Amy Winters pre race - 3b - 2000 Sydney race photo

She was born in

Kempsey, New South Wales Kempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located roughly 16.5 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, on the Macleay Valley Way near where the P ...

, and was born without her lower right arm. Winters has two older sisters. and she attended Kempsey High School. Whilst living in Kempsey, she was coached by Lloyd Smith. At the 1994

IPC Athletics World Championships The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It ...

in Berlin, she won silver medals in the Women's 100m, 200m and long jump T45-46 events. Upon finishing school in 1995, she moved to Coffs Harbour to train with Glenn Thacker before relocating to Canberra to train with Chris Nunn prior to the Atlanta Games. She made her ParalympicGames debut as an 18-year-old at the

1996 Atlanta Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Winters won a gold medal in the Women's 200m T42-46 event, for which she received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

, and a bronze medal in the Women's 100m T42-46 event. After the Atlanta Games, she worked briefly with Kempsey Shire Council before moving to Sydney where she was offered a job with

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...

. Her role later came under the Paralympic Employment Program for elite athletes with disabilities. Once she moved to Sydney she was coached by Col Wright. At the 1998

in Birmingham, she won gold medals in the Women's 100m and 200m T46 events. At

2000 Sydney Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, she won two gold medals in the 100m T46 and 200m T46 events, and a bronze medal in the 400m T46 event. She felt under enormous pressure going into the Sydney Games due to being the 200m title holder from Atlanta. She said ''"I did feel a lot of pressure, but the greatest pressure I felt was the pressure I put on myself. I remember before my final in the 200m, I felt like I was going to be physically sick. I’d never felt like that before. My usual mindset was ‘whatever happens, happens."'' In late 2001, Winters decided to take some time out from sport. She resumed training in late 2002, this time training with Fira Dvoskina in Sydney. In the lead up to the Athens Games she was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder and was coached by

Iryna Dvoskina Iryna Dvoskina (born 22 December 1958) is a Ukraine-born Australian athletics coach who works with Paralympic athletes. Biography Being an only child, she came to Australia in 2003 to be closer to her mother Fira (born 20 September 1934), who h ...

. At the

2004 Athens Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, she won two more gold medals in the 100m and 200m T46 events. Winning the 200m gold medal in Athens made Winters the first Paralympian in Australia to win three successive titles. In 2005, Winters retired from competing. Winters and her husband, Sean, had their first child, Tom, in January 2010 and welcomed Sam in October 2013. Working for the

Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...

since 2005 as a Development Officer and then as the Manager, Education, Winters helped to create both the Paralympic Talent Search Program and the Paralympic Education Program. In 2008, she became the Marketing and Sponsorship Manager and travelled to Beijing and London, liaising closely with the APC's sponsors. Winters commentated the athletics competitions for the ABC at both the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games and the 2011 Christchurch IPC Athletics World Championships. On 24 July 2012, Amy was inducted into the New South Wales Hall of Champions at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre. Winters stated that ''"The Hall of Champions is an illustrious list of many of the greats of Australian sport and to be considered amongst that group is extremely humbling."''

Recognition

* 1996 - OAM *1998 - Captain of Australian Athletics Team "Team of the Year", Paralympian of the Year Awards *1999 - Athlete of the Year (AWD), Sport NSW Annual Awards *2000 - Vice-Captain, Australian Paralympic Team, Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games * 2000 -

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

*2004 - ACT Sports Star of the Year (September) *2004 - Female Athlete of the Year, Paralympian of the Year Awards *2005 - Female Athlete of the Year (AWD), Athletics Australia Athlete of the Year Awards * 2009 - inducted in the Little Athletics Roll of Excellence * 2012 - inducted into

New South Wales Hall of Champions The New South Wales Hall of Champions is a museum at Australia Avenue, Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by State Sports Centre Trust (State Government). The museum's collection was added to the New South Wa ...

* 2014 - inducted into the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Path of Champions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winters, Amy 1978 births Sprinters with limb difference Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic track and field athletes Living people Paralympic athletes of Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia People from the Mid North Coast Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Australian female sprinters Sportswomen from New South Wales Paralympic sprinters