Taryn
Dickens

Taryn Dickens’ favourite sporting moment was when Steven Bradbury won Olympic gold in that famous speed skating race in 2002. When you look into Taryn’s’ pathway into Paralympic winter sport, her respect for Bradbury makes good sense. 

“He was able to race his race, maintain his speed, stay with the pack and stay composed and focused,” the Para biathlete said.  

“This truly resonates with me and I often think about his race while training and competing. He raced his own race, which is what I try to do.” 

Taryn has certainly trekked a unique path. The Able Seaman in the Royal Australian Navy started to experience degenerative vision loss in her mid-30s and, struggling with the uncertainty of her future, she checked herself into a mental health unit. When she finally received a diagnosis, she said to the doctor ‘That means I could compete at the Paralympics’, to which the doctor replied, ‘That’s not the reaction I usually get’. 

Taryn had been a competitive cyclist, among many active pursuits, including soccer and muay thai. But, through an interservice competition while at recruit school, she discovered biathlon and performed especially well at a development camp.  

In late 2023, she received her international classification, B3, paving the way for her to put everything into becoming Australia’s first representative in the Para Nordic sports of cross-country and biathlon since 2006, competing alongside her guide Lynn Cullen.  

“It would mean so much to be a part of the team,” Taryn said. “To know that I have worked so hard to make it to the highest level I can in a sport, it would mean I could look people in the eye and say, ‘You can do it’.” 

The fiercely determined athlete’s favourite quote perhaps best sums up her approach to sport and life, in general: “Real self-confidence doesn’t come from shouting affirmations in the mirror. Real self-confidence comes from giving the world irrefutable proof that you are who you say you are.”