Jane Armstrong

By the time Jane Armstrong had finished high school, most of our first time Paralympians in Beijing had not yet been born. That the proud grandmother and oldest member of the Australian cycling team is a current world champion is all the more impressive.

Jane will be celebrating her 50th birthday this year, and will be hoping to continue the party with a Paralympic gold medal. It will certainly take a strong challenge from her international rivals to stop her, given that she is the current world champion in the 500m time trial, which she achieved at the 2007 IPC Cycling World Championships in France. Jane has also posted world record times in the one kilometre time trial in 2004 and the three kilometre pursuit in 2005.

The path to Paralympic cycling for Jane came as the result of a knee joint disease, which led to the complete knee replacement of her right knee. She says that because of it, these days she is always taken aside to “little rooms” when she visits airports. Jane works as a health promotion officer for ACT Health, and tries her best to motivate people of all abilities into physical activities.

Our Paralympic cycling team is lucky to have not only the athleticism but also the experience of Jane to learn from during this year’s campaign.