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Sarnya Marie Parker, OAM (born 6 June 1975) is an Australian visually impaired
Sarnya Marie Parker, OAM (born 6 June 1975) is an Australian visually impaired paralympic
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...
tandem cyclist. She was born in the South Australian town of Loxton. Before she took up Paralympic tandem cycling, she was a nationally ranked top-ten pentathlete. She won a gold medal in long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
at the 1999 FESPIC Games
The 1999 FESPIC Games, officially known as the 7th FESPIC Games, was an Asia-Pacific disabled multi-sport event held in Bangkok, Thailand from 10 to 16 January 1999, 20 days after the 1998 Asian Games. It was one of the two FESPIC Games to have h ...
in Thailand.
Eighteen months before the 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 ...
, visually impaired Paralympic tandem cyclist Kieran Modra convinced her to switch from athletics to cycling because of the limited opportunities in the former sport for Paralympians. He introduced her to his sister, Tania Modra, despite Modra's lack of competitive cycling experience, and she became Parker's pilot. She won two gold medals for Australia with Modra at the 2000 Sydney Games in the 1 km road race and 3000 m pursuit, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia; the pair broke the world record in both events. In 2000, she received an Australian Sports Medal. In 2009, a walking trail on the riverfront of Loxton was named after her.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Sarnya 1975 births Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sportswomen from South Australia Cyclists from South Australia Australian female cyclists Paralympic cyclists for Australia Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic cyclists with a vision impairment Australian blind people Paralympic medalists in cycling