Dylan Alcott named 2022 Australian of the Year
AUSTRALIAN tennis star Dylan Alcott was named the Australian of the Year for 2022 on Tuesday night. He is the first person with a visible disability to win the award in the its 62 year history.
Although he is a very well known sportsperson, it is not the main reason he won the award. That would be his advocacy work, and he has done a lot of it to help in the disability space.
In 2017 he founded the Dylan Alcott Foundation, which provides scholarship and grant funding to marginalised Australians with a disability. Also in 2017, he co-founded Get Skilled Access, which is a disability and accessibility training start-up.
He also organised AbilityFest, which is Australia’s first and only inclusive, fully accessible music festival.
As a philanthropist, in 2014 he raised funds for The Starlight Foundation and the Children’s Charity by setting the world record for the longest continuous playing of wheelchair tennis. His final time for that record was 24 hours straight.
His sporting career is extensive, and stretches well over 15 years.
What many might not know is that before his tennis career, he was a very successful wheelchair basketballer.
He played his first game of wheelchair basketball back in 2004, and made his World Championship debut two years later. He won a bronze medal with the Australian National team the Rollers in that tournament.
Locally he played as a Guard with Dandenong Rangers in the National League, and was named an All Star in 2008.
He was also a member of the Rollers team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London. The Rollers won Gold in 2008 and silver in 2012, and in an amusing twist of fate it was the Canadians they played in the final both times.
He was also a member of the World Championship winning side in 2010, and was named in the World All Star 5 for the tournament.
He made the move across to tennis in 2014 and never really looked back. Since then he has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, and eight doubles titles. He is also a dual Paralympic Gold medallist, having won the 2016 and 2021 medals.
In 2021 he became the first Australian to achieve the Golden Slam, winning all four Slams and an Olympic/Paralympic Gold Medal in a calendar year.
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