31 31 2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Paralympic Games were held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil from 7–18 September 2016. Australia was represented by 177 athletes in 16 sports and finished 5th on the medal tally with 22 gold, 30 silver and 29 bronze medals for a total of 81 medals. Australia’s medals were spread across 11 different sports with gold medals won in seven sports. As part of Australia’s Winning Edge the Australian Government invested $65 million in summer Paralympic sports through the Australian Institute of Sport in the four years prior to the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. This funding included $13.5 million which was provided directly to athletes through the dAIS funding program. Table 2: 2016 Paralympic Games medallists Medal Sport Name / Team Event Gold Athletics Brayden Davidson Men’s Long Jump T36 Gold Athletics James Turner Men’s 800m T36 Gold Athletics Scott Reardon Men’s 100m T42 Gold Canoe Curtis McGrath Men’s KL2 Sprint Gold Cycling Road Carol Cooke Women’s Time Trial T1-2 Gold Cycling Road Carol Cooke Women’s Road Race T1-2 Gold Cycling Track David Nicholas Men’s 3km Pursuit C3 Gold Sailing Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden, Jonathan Harris 3-Person Sonar Gold Sailing Daniel Fitzgibbon, Leisl Tesch 2-Person SKUD18 Gold Swimming Brendan Hall Men’s 400m Freestyle S9 Gold Swimming Ellie Cole Women’s 100m Backstroke S9 Gold Swimming Ellie Cole, Lakeisha Patterson, Maddison Elliot, Ashleigh McConnell Women’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 34pts