Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games

Elena Galiabovitch (front right) was selected as a flagbearer for the Olympic Games opening ceremony

24 athletes connected to the University competed in Tokyo, bringing home a total of 10 medals across the Olympics and Paralympics. Highlights included gold medals for two University athletes in Women’s Rowing, and an inspirational gold medal to draw the curtain on Dylan Alcott’s Paralympic career.

Gold Medals

Jessica Morrison

Master of Business Administration alum Rowing - Women’s Four Lucy Stephan

Boat Club Member Rowing - Women’s Four Dylan Alcott

Bachelor of Commerce alum Wheelchair Tennis Men’s Quad Singles

Lucy Stephan (left) and Jessica Morrison (second from right) celebrating after winning gold in the Women’s Four

Jessica in the three seat and Lucy in the bow seat won gold in the Rowing Women’s Four, leading from start to finish in the final to narrowly defeat the Netherlands by 0.34 seconds. The crew went into the final as the hot favourite and didn’t disappoint as they held on for gold. The gold medals are the first Olympic medals for both athletes.

Dylan Alcott on the way to winning gold in Men's Wheelchair Tennis

Commerce alum Dylan Alcott once again delivered a remarkable Paralympic performance, earning both of Australia’s medals in Wheelchair Tennis. Alcott was a clear favourite, entering the Games with only one hard-surface loss in the past two years, competing in both the Quad Singles and Quad Doubles events. The top ranked player did not disappoint, beating out rival Sam Schroder in an electrifying singles showdown to mark the end of his Olympic career.

Highlights Silver Medals

Jaryd Clifford

Bachelor of Arts student Men’s Para Athletics – T13 5000m and T12 Marathon Clifford started his Paralympics campaign in good form, having set the world record in the Men’s T12 Marathon only months before the games. Jaryd continued to impress in Tokyo, earning three medals across the Men’s T13 1500m (bronze) and 5000m (silver), and the T12 Marathon (silver).

Perhaps most impressively, Jaryd scored what some dubbed “the greatest Silver medal ever won” in the T12, earning second-place behind a Paralympic record performance by Morocco’s El-Amin Chentouf.

Isis Holt

Former Bachelor of Arts student Women’s Para Athletics – T35 100m and 200m Holt entered the games on the back of two world records at the 2019 World Championships. Holt continued her dominant run with two silver medals across her staple T35 100m and 200m races, recording an Australian record time of 13.13 in the 100m, 0.30sec faster than her previous world record. Isis also set a new Oceania record for the T35 200m with 27.94, a time also faster than the previous world record.

Jaryd Clifford celebrating with his guide Tim Logan after winning Silver in the Men’s T12 Marathon

Catriona Bisset racing in the Women’s 800m heats

Student Results

Catriona Bisset

Master of Architecture and Diploma of Languages Athletics Club Member Athletics - Women’s 800m Catriona ran in Heat 5 of the Women’s 800m, with the top three qualifying automatically for the Semi Finals followed by the next six fastest across all heats. Catriona ran 2:01.65 to finish in fifth, with less than a second splitting the top five. Catriona sat in fourth of the next six fastest before the final Heat. Heat 6 was ran at a blistering pace with four athletes running faster than Catriona outside the top three, bumping her to eight fastest and knocking her out of a spot in the Semi Finals. Elena Galiabovitch

Doctor of Surgery Doctor of Medicine alum Shooting - Women’s 10m and 25m Air Pistol Elena finished 27th in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol on Day 2 and 11th in the Women’s 25m Pistol on Days 6 and 7 in her second Olympic Games. Elena finished the Precision Round in 26th, before her extraordinary comeback in the Rapid Qualification Round saw her score 296/300, the fourth best score of the competition, which moved her to 11th place.

Following her work on the front line of the pandemic, Elena was selected as the Oceania representative to walk in the Olympic Flag at the Opening Ceremony.

Sarah Gigante

Bachelor of Science Cycling - Women’s Road Race and Individual Time Trial In her first Olympic Games, Sarah finished 40th in the Women’s Individual Road Race on Day 2 and 11th in the Women’s Road Time Trial on Day 5. Sarah Hawe

Graduate Certificate in Small Animal Emergency & Critical Care Bachelor of Veterinary Science (hons) alum Rowing – Women’s Eight In her first Olympics, Sarah sat in the five seat of the Rowing Women’s Eight, where the crew finished fifth in the Final, just missing the medal placings by 2.71 seconds. Jemima Montag

Bachelor of Science alum Athletics club member Athletics - Women’s 20km Race Walk Jemima finished in 6th position in the Women’s 20km Walk, the second best performance by an Australian in the history of the event at the Olympic Games.

Alumni Results

Josh Booth

Doctor of Medicine Boat Club member Rowing – Men’s Eight Josh sat in the three seat as part of the Men’s Eight Rowing crew who placed 6th in the final. Josh sat alongside fellow Boat Club members Simon Keenan (four seat) , Nick Lavery (bow) and Stuart Sim (cox) in the Eight. They finished fourth in their Heat, followed by another fourth in the Repechage which scraped them into the Final.

Grace Brown

Bachelor of Arts Cycling - Women’s Road Race and Individual Time Trial In her first Olympic Games, Grace finished 47th in the Women’s Individual Road Race on Day 2 and 4th in the Women’s Road Time Trial on Day 5. Grace finished the Road Time Trial in a time of 31:22.22, with the final rider to cross the line bumping Grace from a Bronze medal into fourth position.

Ben Buckingham

Law and Arts Athletics - Men’s 3000m Steeplechase Ben ran in Heat 3 of the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, with the top three qualifying automatically for the Final followed by the next six fastest across all heats. Ben ran a personal best 8:20.95 to finish in seventh position, just missing a spot in the final.

Kendra Hubbard

Bachelor of Science Athletics - Women’s 4x400m Relay Kendra ran the second leg of the Australian 4x400m relay team. The team finished in seventh in their heat. David McNeill

Doctor of Physiotherapy Athletics - Men’s 5000m Competing in his third Olympic Games, David finished 8th place in his Men’s 5000m heat.

Mary Hanna

Arts alum Equestrian - Dressage Individual Competing in her sixth Olympic Games, Mary and her horse Calanta finished sixth in her group of the Dressage Individual competition. Mary became the eldest Australian Olympian at 66 years and the second oldest female Olympian of all time behind Great Britain’s Lorna Johnstone, who was 70 in the 1972 Equestrian competition.

Club Member Results

Simon Keenan, Nick Lavery and Stuart Sim

Boat Club members Rowing – Men’s Eight Simon Keenan (four seat), Nick Lavery (bow) and Stuart Sim (cox) rowed alongside alum Josh Booth in the Men’s Eight Rowing crew that finished 6th in the final.

Lisa Weightman

Athletics Club member Athletics - Women’s Marathon Lisa finished 26th in the Women’s Marathon. The 42-year-old Weightman competed in her fourth Olympic Marathon in Tokyo.

Other Program Member Results

Charlotte Caslick and Dominique Du Toit

Aon Uni 7s representatives Rugby Sevens - Women Charlotte and Dominique represented Australia in the Women’s Rugby Sevens competition. After defeating Japan and China comfortably in the opening two games, the team fell to the United States in the final group game. This set up a Quarter Final matchup with Fiji, where the team lost 14-12 and were eliminated from medal contention. Following the playoff games, the team finished in fifth.

Highlights

Highlights

Melbourne joins University Basketball League

The year saw the inaugural UniSport Australia University Basketball League (UBL) season get under way after the planned 2020 season was scrapped amid the pandemic. The national competition had eight university teams from Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Western Australia compete around the country over a six-week season.

Despite uncertainty surrounding the pandemic during the UBL season, Melbourne hosted several successful home gamedays at the Nona Lee Sports Centre, with reduced spectator limits offset by a live broadcast of the games online. Unfortunately, the final round of the season and playoffs were cancelled due to a return of COVID-19 restrictions across the country.

The highlight of the season was Men’s Captain and Doctor of Philosophy (Medical Biology) student Joel Rimes being named joint league MVP after integral performances in every game. The University is set to compete in the 2022 UBL, with more universities from around Australia joining the league.

Melbourne University Lightning playing in their pride round uniform Joel Rimes leading the way during a UBL home game against the University of Sydney

Lightning named Netball Victoria’s Inclusive Community of the Year

Melbourne University Lightning Netball was named Netball Victoria’s Inclusive Community of the year, a testament for the work the Club does to support pride and inclusion through Netball and broader communities.

In 2016 the Lightning became the first Club to host an official Victorian Netball League pride game, which paved the way for the VNL to agree to an official Pride Round from this year onwards. The Club plans to expand on its efforts in 2022, with the Pride Round set to include social competitions around Parkville.

Strong Women Network wins UniSport Australia Most Outstanding University Program

Melbourne University Sport is once again leading the industry with awardwinning, innovative programs, with the Strong Women Network being recognised as the Most Outstanding University Sport Project or Program in 2020 by UniSport Australia.

The Network is a mentoring program that brings together women student-athletes and professional women who are current or former athletes, coaches or sport administrators in the University community. Participants are matched according to their sport, career, field of study and broader life interests. The Network supported students to develop meaningful relationships with their mentors and encouraged all participants to attend a series of networking events to foster connections within the cohort. Thirty-five mentor/mentee pairs took part in the program, including current student-athletes who received support and guidance from their mentors regarding balancing sport and academia, career pathways, and thriving through adversity.

The program launched in 2019, and welcomed its second intake of participants in 2020. Despite the setbacks of successive COVID lockdowns, the program continued remotely with group and individual sessions taking place via Zoom, phone, email and text message.

The Strong Women program continues to innovate in the equity space for women students

Jim Angus’s legacy after completing Advisory Board Chair tenure

Former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS), Professor James (Jim) Angus AO FAA recently stepped aside as the MU Sport Advisory Board chairman after six years of exceptional leadership.

Professor Angus became chairman in May 2015, shortly after completing a 10-year term as the MDHS Dean. He had a strong family connection to sport at the University. His son Damien received 13 Sporting Blues, a record number, representing the University in Cross Country, Cycling, Duathlon, Marathon and Triathlon over seven years.

During his tenure as chairman, Professor Angus oversaw the adoption of the new Strategic Plan for Sport (Sport Matters at Melbourne – It Inspires, Connects and Leads), resulting in the introduction of a guaranteed entry scheme for elite student-athletes and a range of policies and programs to increase engagement and participation from underrepresented student groups. This included the Water Safety Program for international students and the Indigenous Sport, Pride in Sport and Strong Women programs, along with a significant increase in programs and services for students located at the University’s smaller metro and regional campuses.

One of the highlights for Professor Angus was MU Sport being awarded the Australian Sporting Organisation of the Year for Inclusion at the 2019 Pride in Sport Awards. Former Senior Vice-Principal Ian Marshman AM has replaced Professor Angus as chairman.

Professor Jim Angus AO FAA (right) with son Damien Angus (left)

Highlights Soccer Club wins UniSport Australia Club Leadership Award

The Melbourne University Soccer Club took out the UniSport Australia Club Leadership Award for 2020 in providing a more inclusive club for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Despite a cancelled season, 2020 was a standout year in inclusion and participation for the Club. The Club successfully applied for a state government health grant to host the inaugural All Gender Games Series – a soccer tournament for trans-women, trans-men and non-binary players. They also appointed a Club Pride Ambassador who represented MUSC at the Wear it Purple Proud to Play Panel and supported the Club to add a more inclusive definition of gender to the constitution. Three videos were also produced by the Club discussing gender and sexual diversity and how they relate to sport.

Players at the inaugural All Gender Games tournament

Students and alumni achieve AFL Grand Final glory

Congratulations to student-athlete Tom Sparrow (Science) and alum Tom McDonald (Commerce), who were part of the victorious Melbourne Demons team in the 2021 AFL Grand Final in Perth.

Student Aaron van den Berg (Commerce) was also a Demons listed player in season 2021, while former MU Sport Board member Kate Roffey became only the second woman president of an AFL premiership club after the win at Optus Stadium.

The University was also well represented by the runner-up, the Western Bulldogs, which featured student-athlete Tim English (Commerce) and former students Alex Keath (Arts), Tom Liberatore (Arts) and Stefan Martin (Science). Patrick Lipinski (Community Access Program) was also a listed player in season 2021.

Tom Sparrow (second from left) and Tom McDonald (second from right) celebrating after winning the 2021 AFL Grand Final