Jessica Gallagher

Jessica Gallagher

Eric Bickerton's medal as support person for Bronze medal winner Jessica Gallagher
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	14 March 1986
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Paralympic Games Bronze 2010 Vancouver Women's Slalom visually impaired

Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is a Paralympic alpine skier from Geelong, Victoria. She was Australia's second female winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics.

She is legally blind, and represents Australia internationally in two sports: Skiing and athletics. In skiing, she has won a bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Paralympics. In athletics, she has set national records in discus, long jump and shot put. She has also represented the state of Victoria as a junior in netball and basketball.

Personal

Gallagher was born on 14 March 1986 and is from Geelong, Victoria.^[1] In 2009, she graduated from RMIT University with a Master of Osteopathy.^[2] When not competing, she is an osteopath.^[1] Her heroes are her mother, Mike Edwards, John Boas and Steve Gaffney.^[1] At the time of the 2010 Winter Paralympics, she was dating the American Paralympic sitting ski slalomer Gerald Hayden.^[3] She is an Australian Paralympic Committee Ambassador^[4] and Vision Australia Ambassador for Recreation.^[5] She spoke at the 2010 Disability Rights and Advocacy Service Annual General Meeting.^[6]

She is blind in her left eye and has partial sight in her right eye^[7], as a result of cone dystrophy, a rare genetic disease.^[2] She started to lose her eyesight when she was a teenager.^[6] She was supposed to compete in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in long jumping, but she failed her classification test because the classifiers said her eyesight in right eye was too good. In November 2009, her classification was revisited as a result of the deterioration of her vision and she was deemed eligible to compete.^[7] One of her goals is to become the first Australian Paralympic athlete to earn medals at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.^[8]

Sports

Netball, basketball and snowboarding

She plays netball and basketball with able bodied athletes,^[8] having first participated in both sports before she started to lose her vision.^[9] In netball, she is a goal shooter and plays for South Barwon and Leopold. In basketball, she competes for the Geelong Cats.^[10] As a junior, she represented Victoria in both sports. She was a shadow team member for Australia's national U16 netball team.^[6]

She is also a snowboarder, a sport she took up two years before skiing. She would like to see snowboarding included as an event at the Winter Paralympics.^[11]

Competitive skiing

Gallagher was the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics,^[1] and Australia's second female winter Paralympian.^[12] She took up skiing in December 2008 as a result of classification issues she faced with athletics.^[10][13] She was given the opportunity to compete at the highest levels in skiing after being identified during a talent search and because of her snowboarding experience.^[11] As she is blind, she competes with a guide. Her guide skiing partner is Eric Bickerton. She first represented Australia in 2009 and the New Zealand Winter Games, where she took home a gold medal. In January 2010, she competed at her first IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup event in Austria and won a medal.^[1] On 25 November 2009, her inclusion on the Australian Winter Paralympic Team was announced.^[14] Prior to the start of the 2010 Games, she had competed in nine World Cup events. ^[7]On her 24th birthday,^[7] she won a bronze medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games in the Women's Slalom visually impaired event,^[15] after having spent only 150 total days skiing.^[6] In her first and second time down the hill, she finished third both times.^[12] She had a time of 2:04.35.^[10] She also competed in the Women's Giant Slalom visually impaired event in the 2008 Games.^[15]She is coached by Steve Graham.^[7] Australia's National Sports Museum put several items related to her on display following her bronze medal win.^[6] In July 2011, she and Bickerton ran a ski camp for people who are blind or have low vision.^[5]

Competitive athletics

Gallagher is an athletics competitor,^[4] competing in long jump, discus, shot putting and sprinting.^[8] She became involved in athletics as part of an Australian Institute of Sport talent search.^[16] Her personal best in the F13 javelin throw event is 29.79 metres (97.7 ft), which she accomplished in 2010, and in the F13 long jump her personal best is 4.97 metres (16.3 ft).^[4] She holds several records in the F13 classification, including Australian and Oceanian records in the long jump and shot put, and an Australian record in discus.^[2] In athletics, she is coached by Mike Edwards and John Boas.^[4] She obtained athletics scholarships with the Australian Institute of Sport and Victorian Institute of Sport.^[4] She competed at the 2008 Australian Athletics Championships where she competed in the women ambulant open division, and finished first in the long jump event and third in the shot put and discus throw.^[4] She was supposed to compete in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in long jump, but she failed her classification test.^[7] She competed at the 2009 Australian Athletics Championships in the same division and finished fourth in the long jump and fifth in the discus throw.^[4] In January 2011, she competed at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she finished third in the javelin throw event, with a throw of 33.75 metres (110.7 ft). Her appearance at the championships marked her return to the sport after having taken a break to compete in skiing.^[16] In April 2011, she competed in the Australian Athletics Championships^[1] where she finished first in the long jump and second in the javelin throw.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Jessica Gallagher". Australian Paralympic Committee. 2010. http://www.paralympic.org.au/team/jessica-gallagher. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "RMIT graduate makes Paralympics history". RMIT. http://rmit.biz/browse;ID=7gv182c2fcx31. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
3. ^ Lewis, Daniel. "Gallagher claims Australia's first medal". Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia). http://www.smh.com.au/sport/gallagher-claims-australias-first-medal-20100315-q6u3.html. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Jessica Gallagher". Athletics Australia. http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/gallagher_jessica. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Don’t miss this opportunity to learn to Ski at Mt Baw Baw". Vision Australia. 12 July 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Jessica Gallagher — Bronze Medallist Para Olympian". DRAS Newsletter: p. 2. Winter 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f} McDonald, Margie (15 March 2010). "Jessica Gallagher rejoices in Paralympic history". The Australian (Sydney, Australia). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/jessica-gallagher-rejoices-in-paralympic-history/story-fn4vwn8v-1225840781181. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} "Jessica Gallagher". Australian Institute of Sport. http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/awd_alpine/athletes?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZtYXRyaXh0dW5uZWwlMkZTcG9ydCUyRjMzJTJGU3F1YWQlMkZQcm9maWxlJTJGQXRobGV0ZSUyRkRldGFpbCUyRjI5NjI1NjQmYWxsPTE%3D. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
9. ^ "Paralympic Heroes". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 23 March 2010. http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2848320.htm. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} Lannen, Danny (15 March 2010). "Geelong's Jessica Gallagher wins paralympic medal". Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria). http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/03/15/154965_news.html. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Lewis, Daniel (10 March 2010). "Its onward and upward for our Paralympic team". Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia). http://www.smh.com.au/sport/winter-olympics/its-onward-and-upward-for-our-paralympic-team-20100322-qrem.html. 
12. ^ ^{a b} "Skier Jessica Gallagher first Australian woman to win Paralympic medal". Adelaide Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 15 March 2010. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/skier-jessica-gallagher-first-australian-woman-to-win-paralympic-medal/story-e6frecj3-1225840796043. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 
13. ^ AAP (15 March 2010). "Geelong skier Jessica Gallagher wins birthday winter bronze". Perth Now. http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/geelong-skier-jessica-gallagher-wins-birthday-winter-bronze/story-e6frg1wu-1225840868640. Retrieved 8 November 2010. 
14. ^ Stinson, Jane (25 November 2009). "2010 Winter Paralympic Team Vancouver Unveiled". Kate Ellis. http://www.kateellis.com.au/newsroom/214/. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
15. ^ ^{a b} "Athlete Search Results". International Paralympic Committee. http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Results/search.html?npc=AUS&gender=all&medal=all&sport=all&games=2010PWG. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
16. ^ ^{a b} "Gallagher proves herself with world championships bronze". Australia: Athletics Australia. http://www.athletics.com.au/news/news/2011/january/gallagher_proves_herself_with_. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Gallagher, Jessica
Alternative names
Short description	Australian skiier
Date of birth	14 March 1986
Place of birth	Geelong, Victoria
Date of death
Place of death