Spencer Cotie

Spencer Cotie was born with cerebral palsy and grew up believing that he would never have the opportunity to play sport competitively – that is, until he discovered boccia.

Since starting in the sport nine years ago, Spencer has proven to all those around him that they are witnessing the rise of a champion. Spencer first represented Australia in 2014 at the BISFed World Open in Hong Kong, where he and Australian teammate Dan Michel combined to win the silver medal in the mixed pairs BC3. For their first international hit-out as a duo, it did not take them long to find their rhythm, and a clinical 11-1 victory over Macau set the tone for the next five years of their partnership. By the end of 2018, Spencer and Dan had climbed to world No. 3.

Spencer made his Paralympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, teaming up with Dan Michel and Jamieson Leeson in the mixed pairs BC3 event. The team’s quest for a Paralympic medal was dashed during their final preliminary match during the pools stage of competition. The Aussie trio needed to win all three of their matches to progress to the semi-finals, with a strong start in the first two matches with wins against Portugal (4-3) and Brazil (5-2). During the nail-biting decider against Hong Kong, China, scores were tied at 3-3. The game progressed to a tiebreaker with the Hong Kong side ultimately winning 1-0 to bring the Australian campaign to an end.