Rae Anderson

Rae Anderson was born with cerebral palsy affecting her left side, particularly the movement of her hand and foot. She immersed herself in sport early, learning to swim before she learned to walk, but due to multiple surgeries and lengthy rehabilitation programs, Rae was unable to play competitive sport until the age of ten. In the meantime, she learned to sail and surf, and later joined the local soccer, basketball and OZTAG teams.

Following a chance encounter with Paralympic gold medallist and fellow cerebral palsy athlete Evan O’Hanlon in 2010, Rae turned her attention towards athletics. Though she concedes that sailing and boating will always be her priority on weekends, her ultimate goal in sport is to win a Paralympic medal in throwing.

After placing second at the 2014 Australian Athletics Championships in Melbourne, Rae debuted for Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. When she and her former coach, Matt Horsnell, learned that discus would not be contested in her classification at the Paralympic Games, she began competing in long jump as a T37-classified athlete. Due to severe cramping in her left leg, it is often difficult for Rae to achieve the height she requires to land a successful jump.

Rae showed that she was up for any challenge when she competed at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar on the same day that she sat her final HSC exam.

The following year she was selected to partake in the Para-athletics Junior High Performance Program to help to prepare her for qualification for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. At these Games, Rae placed fifth in javelin and eighth in discus.

Rae is supported by the Donnica Clarke Foundation, an organisation geared towards supporting young athletes based on the NSW Central Coast. She is equally passionate about philanthropy and would like to dedicate her life to helping others, starting at the Westmead Children’s Hospital, where she had three major operations and underwent months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

After retiring from athletics, Rae is interested in working with charities overseas, particularly in Indonesia, and also pursuing a career in media. She is fluent in Indonesian and learning Malaysian, and in her spare time enjoys watching Charmed, Reign and Heroes.