Double silver for Michel and Leeson on historic day for Australian ...
Paris: Mark it down: September 2, 2024, was the greatest day in Australian boccia history.
Dan Michel and Jamieson Leeson might not have won gold medal matches at the Paralympics on Monday night - they settled for silver - but both wrote their names into the record books.
Daniel Michel after his silver medal in the boccia. Credit: Getty Images
Before these Games, the best Australia had done was a bronze in boccia. Then came two silver medals within two hours of each other.
In a sport that resembles lawn bowls, with players throwing or rolling a ball down a ramp as close to the ‘jack’ as possible, Leeson and Michel just couldn’t get into their respective gold medal matches.
Leeson, the eighth seed coming into Paris, fought hard but went down 4-2 to Hong Kong’s Yuen Kei Ho. Michel, a bronze medallist in Tokyo three years ago, trailed 3-0 after the first end before coming up short 5-2 against South Korea’s Howon Jeong.
Jamieson Leeson and ramp operator Jasmine Haydon pose with the medallists.Credit: Getty Images
“I feel stoked about it,” Michel said. “Playing against Howon in the final is my dream scenario. He’s the best to ever do it. I love playing against him. We see the game in very similar ways. So it’s always a super fun match, and he makes you play some really hard shots. I stepped up to the plate tonight, but I just didn’t quite have the execution I needed to win that match.”
There were a number of icons of Australian sport in the stands at the South Paris Arena.
Australian Sports Commission chief executive and two-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Kieren Perkins sat in the second row, transfixed on the intricacies of the matches.
Just in front of Perkins was Paralympic legend Kurt Fearnley, who tweeted three years ago: “Dan Michel currently leading in the Bronze Medal Boccia match!!! TUNE IN NOW! Work & homeschooling can wait!”
Paralympians Daniel Michel and Jamieson Leeson both won silver medals.Credit: Nikki Short
Next to Fearnley was another Paralympic superstar in Dylan Alcott, fresh off hosting duties that afternoon for Channel Nine.
Not far away was Natalie Cook, famous for winning beach volleyball gold on the sands of Bondi Beach in 2000.
Leeson was thrilled with her result and so too were the folk of Dunedoo.
Some in the small town, located in NSW’s central west and with a population of 1000, took part in a 2:30am viewing party at the local high school to cheer hometown hero Leeson, who has a mural painted of her there.
Daniel Michel on his way to winning silver in Paris, with ramp assistant Ashlee Madden.Credit: Getty Images
The pair’s ramp assistants, Jasmine Haydon (Leeson) and Ashlee Madden (Michel) also receive medals, which might surprise some. However, they have a critical role. Ramp assistants take instructions on where to put the balls and ramp but are not allowed to speak or look behind at the game unfolding.
Boccia is a sport for the most physically impaired members of the community. It is the only sport, as well as goalball, at the Paralympics that does not feature at the Olympics.
Michel is mates with former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh. About eight years ago, as part of a Canon Australia campaign, Waugh met Michel and his family and took some photos of the then 18-year-old.
The Steve Waugh Foundation part funded Michel’s robotic arm, which gave him a degree of independence.
Three years ago, Steve Waugh sent a message to this masthead.
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“I’m sure we’ll see Dan in Paris 2024 where the colour of the medal will change,” Waugh wrote.
Michel held up his end of the bargain.
“It was really a saving grace in my life,” said Michel of his introduction to boccia.
“I was a pretty directionless kid, and didn’t know what I wanted to do, and all I wanted to do was play sport. Didn’t think there was one for me. I found boccia as a 15-year-old, and life really turned around.”
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