Having never touched a basketball prior the 2008 Beijing Games, Shelley Cronau is now set to achieve her dream of representing Australia at the 2012 Paralympics in London. It caps a remarkable story.

In 2007, Shelley fractured her skull and suffered a crushed spinal cord after falling down stairs in Surfers Paradise. It left her an incomplete paraplegic and with a brain injury from which she has since recovered. Shelley spent five months in rehabilitation and was inspired after watching the Beijing Paralympics Games.

Having returned impressive results in the prelude to London 2012, selection for her first Paralympic Games would be vindication for Hannah Dodd’s determination and will to succeed. Hannah enjoyed a stellar 2011 campaign, winning the team test at both the Oceania Championships and National Titles.

A member of the Australian wheelchair rugby squad, Scott Vitale’s ability to overcome obstacles is a testament to his ‘never give up’ attitude to life.

In 2001, Scott broke his neck during a motorbike accident and as a result became a quadriplegic. When in hospital undergoing rehabilitation, Scott was shown a wheelchair rugby demonstration. Immediately drawn to the sport’s hard hitting nature, he began playing ‘murderball’ in December 2002. Less than one year later, he was selected to represent Australia at the Oceania Zonal Championships in Japan.  

The story of Lance Armstrong’s battle to overcome cancer and reach the heights of sporting greatness is widely publicised. Looking up to his hero, the sporting exploits of Australian wheelchair basketball Adam Deans may too go down in sporting folk lore one day, as the up-coming basketball star looks to make his place in history at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

For most people who are fortunate enough to make an Australian rowing team, it is the highest sporting achievement of their lives. However that is not necessarily the case for athlete John Maclean, who already has an impressive career behind him.

Elise Kerle has Australian Women’s Goalball Head Coach Georgina Kenaghan to thank for introducing her to goalball after she visited her high school in 2008 to promote the sport.

Elise was encouraged to try goalball and having come from a sporting family, where her great-grandfather captained the Australian men’s hockey team, Elise’s determined nature saw her commit to the sport.

For Nicholas Hum, sport runs through his veins. Growing up, his father represented Victoria on the track while his grandmother worked in the Athlete Village at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. It will be exactly 56 years since the Hum family’s first brush with elite sport that Nicholas hopes to represent Australia at the London Paralympic Games in 2012.

Michelle became involved in shooting during her rehabilitation. Having a competitive nature Michelle looked for a new sport when her professional career as a jockey came to an end after a race fall, which left her a paraplegic in Dec 1992. Having grown up on a family farm Michelle thought shooting would be a challenging sport in which she could achieve great things, in particular striving to compete at the Paralympics Games.

You could mistake Ben Houlison for a typical 27 year old male. He enjoys drinking beer, following his local football team and beef cattle farming. Unlike most 27 year olds however, Ben is also a champion adaptive rower.

After a workplace accident left him as a paraplegic, Ben left his job as a coal miner and began training to become a world champion athlete.

Georgia Bruce comes from Kuranda in far north Queensland and has competed in dressage for ten years. She represented Australia at the Athens 2004 Games but did not medal. Four years later and with a lot of hard work, Georgia won two bronze medals in Beijing and was the most successful Australian equestrian athlete at the Games.