Rosemary Little (born 27 August 1982) is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She won a bronze medal in

wheelchair racing Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

, and has also competed in handcycling. She competed at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paraly ...

, her third Games, where switched from

to shot put.

Personal

Little was born on 27 August 1982 in

Mackay, Queensland } Mackay () is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensla ...

, and is from West Pennant Hills, New South Wales. She has a brain injury as a result of a brain virus. She has studied occupational therapy at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and speech and audiology at the

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...

. Little has represented Australia in

handcycling A handcycle is a type of human-powered land vehicle powered by the arms rather than the legs, as on a bicycle. Most handcycles are tricycle in form, with two coasting rear wheels and one steerable powered front wheel. Despite usually having th ...

Athletics

Little is a T34 wheelchair racing competitor. She started competing in athletics in 2003. Originally classified T33, she tried to qualify for the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

but missed the qualifying time by 0.02 seconds. One of her pre-race rituals is to eat a banana and drink a

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inclu ...

. In 2011, she trained six days a week at Parramatta Park. Little competed in the 2011 City2Surf, where she collided with another competitor and damaged her racing wheelchair. This put her 2012 Paralympic campaign at risk as she had to acquire the funds, around A$8,000, to get her wheelchair replaced before she could compete again. Following a newspaper appeal, she found the funds to replace her chair. She first represented Australia in 2012. In 2012, she competed in Australia's Summer Down Under wheelchair circuit. She competed in the 2012 Australian Athletics Championships, setting an unofficial record in the 100 metre event with a time of 20.60 seconds. In July 2012, she competed at the United States Paralympic track and field trials, finishing second in the 100 metre event and third in the 200 metre event. She was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

at the

in athletics. At the

, she competed in the Women's 100 m T34 and 200 m T34, both combined T33/T34 events. She pushed a T33 World Record time in her 100 m heat; she was then reclassified to T34 and her record annulled. She won a bronze medal in the 100 m final. At the

2013 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, ...

Lyon, France Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, she won a silver medal in the Women's 200 m T34 and Women's 100 m T34. After collecting the bronze medal she commented ''I have dystonia which causes spasms in my hands and that means that the 100m is never my favourite event because getting my arms back can be quite difficult. Today, for example, I missed the first 10 or so pushes and that's something that I have to learn to cope with. Hopefully the program for Rio includes the 400m and the 800m, but if that doesn’t happen I will keep working to do even better in the short sprints when we get there.'' She attributed her improved performances to her new coach

Louise Sauvage Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM (born 18 September 1973) is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach. Sauvage is often regarded as the most renowned disabled sportswoman in Australia. She won nine gold and four silver medals at f ...

. At the

2016 Rio Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

Little competed in three T34 track events, the 100m, 400m and 800m. The 100m sprint was her first event on day three of the games. She placed 5th with a time of 19.05, commenting afterwards that it wasn't her best performance, "I had quite a bad start and the 100 not being my best event, I took a while to get going", she said. In the 400m event she placed 4th with a time of 1:01.91 and the 800m she also placed 4th with a time of 2:04.10. She has transferred to the shot put F52 for the

and in 2021 is coached by

Karyne Di Marco Karyne Di Marco (born Perkins) (born 14 March 1978 in Whyalla, South Australia) is a female hammer thrower from Australia. Her personal best is 67.44 metres, achieved in March 2004 in Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Au ...

and Breanne Clement. She came 5th in Women's Shot Put F32. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she finished 6th in the Women's 100m T34. Little won the bronze medal in the Women's Shot Put F32 at the

2023 World Para Athletics Championships The 2023 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was the 10th edition of the event and was held in the Charlety S ...

in Paris.

References

External links

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Rosemary Little
at Australian Athletics Historical Results {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Rosemary 1982 births Living people Paralympic athletes for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women People with dystonia