Dan
Michel

Boccia player Dan Michel is a Paralympic champion in the making.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Dan became the first Australian athlete to compete in boccia at the Paralympic Games in 16 years. Although he absorbed as much experience as he could, he has always been focused on winning a Paralympic gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Dan’s relentless pursuit is evident to all those around him and his improvement as a player is matched only by his desire to turn his dream of Paralympic glory into reality.

In an unbelievable start to his international career, Dan first represented Australia at the 2013 BISFed Asia and Oceania Boccia Championships in Sydney, NSW, where he placed fifth in the mixed individual BC3 and qualified for the 2014 BISFed Boccia World Championships in Beijing, China. An international debut is a major life event for anyone, but for Dan, that day was significant for another reason as well – just half an hour earlier, he had sat an exam for his Higher School Certificate.

Since the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Dan has improved out of sight. He won his first individual gold medal in international competition at the 2017 BISFed World Open in Kansas, USA, and followed it with a silver and bronze medal at the 2018 BISFed World Boccia Championships in Liverpool, England, to end 2018 ranked third in the world in the mixed individual BC3 and mixed pairs BC3 with Australian teammate Spencer Cotie.

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Dan claimed bronze in the individual BC3 bronze medal match – Australia’s first boccia medal since 1996 and the country’s first ever individual medal. With a 6-1 win against Scott McCowan of Great Britain, Dan secured his first medal at his second Games.

He then teamed with Spencer Cotie and Jamieson Leeson in the mixed pairs BC3 event. Following a strong start in the pools stage with wins against Portugal (4-3) and Brazil (5-2), the Australian trio were then up against the Hong Kong trio Ho Yuen Kei, Tse Tak Wah and Liu Wing Tung. A nail-biting game resulted in a score of 3-3, pushing the game to a tiebreaker. Unfortunately, the Hong Kong side won the decider 1-0, knocking the Australian team out the competition.