Paddock to Paris

Look out for 21 year old Jamieson Leeson, who hails from Dunedoo in central west New South Wales in the upcoming Paralympics. She’ll be representing Australia in Boccia in both the individual and pairs events in the B3 classification. Boccia is one of the only sports specific to the Paralympics and basically it’s a ball target game that has similarities lawn bowls, boccie and snooker as well. No m...

Patrick Tiernan blew everyone's expectations when he was amongst the lead pack for the 10,000m track event at the Tokyo Olympics. Less than 100m from the finish line as the pace continued to increase, Pat stumbled to his hands. Many Australians can remember watching on in devestation for him, but in a moment of I-don't-know-what, he got up and willed himself over the finish line, still achieving a...

You may not have heard of Aislin Jones before but I challenge you not to impressed by this woman’s integrity, maturity and goal setting ability! Aislin will be competing in the Olympic Skeet Clay Target Shooting Event and then ever-so-casually will also take herself off to run a her first ever Marathon a matter of days later. As a child Aislin was one of those children picking up the broken clay t...

Col Pearse grew up at a tiny Victorian locality called Bamawm Extension where the ratio of cows to people is 500:1. At the age of 2 he lost his right foot in a lawn mower accident. This, he says. never really impacted his life and he went on to lead a normal, hyper-active childhood playing any and all sports with his mates from town. At the age of 12 he met Paralympian Ellie Cole and after handlin...

One man to look out for in the Opening Ceremony – and in the Australian Men’s Rowing 8 Boat is 26 year old Jack O’Brien from Walgett in north west NSW Since the middle of May he’s been training, lapping, perfecting his style, mind, muscles and mentality, in various training camps and competitions across Europe – as the Australian Rowing Team works and works and works to give itself the best chance...

Today Shannan Davey a light-middle weight boxer will arrive in the Olympic village in Paris for his first Olympics. It’s a far cry from the life he was leading in the regional town of Narrabri at the age of 10. He was regularly fighting in the playground, was hyperactive in the classroom and loved to eat pizza on the couch. Two years later – his brother told him to put the pizza down and come with...

This Saturday, Olivia Barton and her horse Holly will board a plane headed for a pre-Olympics training camp in Europe. She’s an eventer – who’s been riding since before she could walk – on her family sheep and cattle farm near Wellington in central west NSW. But this is an Olympic story with a bit more complexity because Olivia’s name isn’t on the Australian Equestrian Olympic team list, nor is sh...

Guess What; This week Laura Gourley found out she's going to the Olympics! Of the 37 athletes on Australia's Rowing team, at least 6 of them are from rural Australia. This ratio of country to city people is high and so it's fitting that we kick off this podcast - which is all about elevating the stories of rural and regional Australian athletes heading to Paris - with a sport that's seen a high re...

Paddock to Paris is an intimate interview series with Athletes from rural and regional Australian who've made it to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Find us @mansonpodcasting on Instagram or via our website mansonpodcasting.com This is a Manson Podcasting Network Production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.