Paris dreaming for Victoria’s best athletes
More than 80 VIS athletes took on the world in Paris, donning the green and gold while also representing Victoria.
A 460-strong team represented Australia across 33 different sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics with more than 100 para-athletes joining them in France for August’s Paralympic Games.
Victorians were right in the thick of it as our Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athletes strived to bring home gold for their state and country.
The VIS was established by the Victorian Government in 1990 to assist the state’s best athletes achieve national and international success. With ongoing support from Government, the VIS has helped build a team ready to shine in France.
In total, 81 VIS scholarship athletes joined of the Paris 2024 Olympic team and more than 20 competed as members of the Paris 2024 Paralympic team.
Athletes from across Victoria competed in 20 Olympic sports and at least 9 Paralympic sports. They competed in everything from athletics to table tennis and wheelchair rugby to skateboarding.
Our athletes included:
Jemima Montag (athletics) – 20km race walker who claimed silver at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Harry Garside (boxing) – With an Olympic bronze medal from Tokyo and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold in his possession, Garside is looking for gold in the men’s 63.5kg division.
Steph Catley (football) – Captain of the Matildas, among the best female football teams in the world.
Chris Mitrevski (athletics) – national long jump champion who qualified for Paris with a jump of 8.32m at the 2024 national championships, a distance that would have put him on the podium in Tokyo.
Catherine Skinner (shooting) – Gold medallist in the women’s trap at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Skinner is ranked inside the top 10 and looking to replicate her feats of 8 years ago.
Grace Brown (road cycling) – Paris is Brown’s second Olympic road cycling campaign. She finished fourth in the individual time trial in Tokyo and won silver in the same event at the 2022 World Championships.
Keefer Wilson (skateboarding) – 17-year-old first-time Olympian from Nyora who was in exceptional park skating form in the qualification events.
Cole Pearse (swimming) – Bronze medalist in the 100m butterfly S10 at Tokyo and won gold in the same event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Melissa Tapper (table tennis) – Competes across both Olympics and Paralympics, finishing 4th at the London 2012 Paralympics and winning a gold medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
More than 500 athletes and Para athletes across 45 sports are supported by the VIS. The organisation is helping build a proud history of success for Victorians competing at the highest level, including previous Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Recognising the vital role the VIS plays in nurturing the state’s top athletes, the Victorian Government allocated an additional $32.7 million in funding over the next 4 years in the 2024-25 State Budget.
This funding will help support the expansion of VIS programs and service, adding to existing base funding, bringing total investment in the VIS to $58.2 million over the next 4 years.
For a complete list of VIS athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics visit the VIS website.