page_title: Australia at the 1980 Summer Paralympics
section_title: Team
hierarchical_section_title: Australia at the 1980 Summer Paralympics / Team
caption_attribution_description: English: The Australian Amputee Team at the 1980 Summer Games, The Netherlands
context_page_description: Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands. It was the 6th Summer Paralympic Games in which Australia had competed. These Games were the biggest Paralympics yet, with 1,973 people participating. Of those participants, 57 were Australian. The team was made up of 45 men and 12 women, and was Australia's largest team to compete at any Paralympic Games so far.
  As a nation, Australia won 55 medals in total – 12 gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze medals. This was the greatest number of medals Australia had ever won at the Paralympic Games, and although they won fewer gold medals than at the previous Games, Australia won more silver and bronze medals than ever before. As a result, Australia placed 14th on the gold medal table and 9th on the overall total medal table. This was an improvement from the 1976 Games, at which they placed 11th, and matched their overall performance at the 1972 Games where they also placed 9th.
context_section_description: Overall, Australia participated in three out of the four classes, and won medals in six out of the 10 different sports they competed in. Despite Australian Amputee athletes not having a nation body, the previous experience at the Torontolympiad and at the Sydney FESPIC Games provided the motivation for individual athletes to attend Arnhem. No selection trials were held, and the eleven athletes who competed had to cover the expenses of getting to and from the Games themselves. Eleven vision-impaired athletes from Australia also competed in Arnhem. These athletes however, had the advantaged of the Australian Blind Sports Federation, a national body that was formed the same year (1980). This organisation serves to provide support for competitive athletes through encouragement, raising funds, assisting in preparation and helping them get there.
  The biggest contingent of Australians at Arnhem was athletes with a spinal cord injury. They also experienced the most success, winning a total of 34 medals, which is over half of Australia's total. Even though the 1980 Paralympic Games were the first time that cerebral palsy athletes joined spinal cord injury, blind and amputees athletes at the Paralympics, Australia did not have a national organisation and did not send any cerebral palsy athletes.
  Kevin Coombs was given the honour of captaining the entire Australian Team. In his biography, Coombs writes: “This was the biggest honour I had received. I had been an Australian team captain once before in 1974 at the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, but this was the Paralympics.” These Games were Coombs' fourth, and he also captained the Australian Wheelchair Basketball team.
caption: 1980 Australian Amputee Team - Arnhem, Holland
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