Dominic Monypenny

Always very physically active, Dominic Monypenny fell 30 metres from a walking trail in the Launceston Cataract Gorge ten years ago, resulting in complete spinal cord lesion and paraplegia. After his accident he decided that using a wheelchair wasn’t going to stop his love of sports and became involved in gym climbing, hand cycling, wheelchair road racing, badminton, tennis, basketball and downhill skiing.

In January 2003, Dominic became the first person in a wheelchair to complete Australia’s hardest half marathon, up Mount Wellington on the outskirts of Hobart. Even more remarkably, he completed the challenge in a normal day chair instead of a specialised racing chair.

His first rowing event was the 2004 Tasmanian Masters Rowing Regatta, and just over 12 months later, he competed at the 2005 World Championships in Japan where he won gold. In 2006 he won gold again at the World Championships in England.

Dominic loves the freedom that rowing gives him once he’s on the water and enjoys the camaraderie and the acceptance and integration that athletes with a disability experience from the Tasmanian and Australian Rowing Communities

He is now focused on bringing home the first Paralympic Adaptive Rowing gold medal for Australia at the Beijing Paralympic Games.