History-making Paralympian #148 Michael Johnson MZNM is all set for a record equalling sixth Paralympic Games appearance by a Kiwi athlete as he spearheads a three-strong Shooting Para sport team selected to represent the NZ Paralympic Team at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Johnson, a three-time Paralympic medallist, has earned selection for a sixth straight Paralympic Games to match the milestone of Paralympian #4 Graham Condon QSM, a Para athlete and Para swimmer who chalked up six Paralympic appearances between 1968-1988.
The 50-year-old Waiuku-based athlete, who claimed R4 Air Rifle 10m Standing SH2 gold on his Paralympic debut in Athens 2004, earned a slot for New Zealand at Paris 2024 by winning a silver medal in the R4 Air Rifle 10m Standing SH2 event at the 2024 World Shooting Para Sport New Delhi World Cup in March.
Entered in three events at Paris 2024 – the R4 Mixed Air Rifle Standing SH2, R5 Mixed Air Rifle Prone SH2 and R9 Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH2 – an elated Johnson said: “I remember competing in Shooting Para sport at my first Paralympic Games alongside a fellow New Zealander Paralympian #54 Colin Willis MNZM, who made his fifth appearance thinking there is no way I’ll still be competing 20 years later. So, to be set for my sixth Paralympic Games appearance is a great milestone and proves that age is no barrier, so long as you continue to perform well.”
Joining Johnson on the NZ Paralympic Team for Paris 2024 is Paralympian #204 Greg Reid, who secured selection in the R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 for his second Paralympic Games appearance.
The 62-year-old from Featherston in the Wairarapa made his Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 and secured a slot for New Zealand in the R3 Mixed Air Rifle Prone SH1 event at the World Shooting Para Sport New Delhi World Cup in March.
An elated Reid, who works as a mass metrologist for the Measurements Standard Laboratory in Lower Hutt to ensure that New Zealand’s units of measurement are consistent with international units, said: “It is a major relief to win selection and I’m really excited to give the Paralympics another crack. I wasn’t prepared to travel to Tokyo (for the 2020 Paralympic Games) because of COVID-19 and I did wonder how many years I had left in me, so I’m immensely proud.”
Reid, who badly injured his right leg after suffering an ice climbing accident in Antarctica which later led to amputation, finished seventh in the Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, said: “It is now full steam ahead to Paris where I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do. My ambition is to do better than I did in Rio.”
The team is rounded out by Neelam O’Neill who becomes the first female to represent New Zealand in Shooting Para sport at a Paralympic Games for 40 years and the first ever Kiwi woman to feature in a pistol event in Paralympic history.
Whangarei-raised and Auckland-based O’Neill, who first started shooting a slug gun from the age of seven, said of winning selection in the R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 and the P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1: “I feel very emotional because this is something both myself and my wider support team have worked on for more than eight years and to finally represent my country at the Paralympic Games is phenomenal.
“This is an ambition not just I but my whole support network has strived for,” adds O’Neill who is coached by Johnson in air rifle and in pistol by Ricky Zhao. “My goal is to finish in the top eight, but I just hope to embrace the whole experience.”
O’Neill, 31, who works in customer support for a bank in central Auckland and who has spina bifida, added of her selection: “I’m mind-blown to be the first woman in 40 years to make a New Zealand Paralympic team in Shooting Para sport and the first ever female pistol shooter for New Zealand at a Paralympics. My goal is to inspire other women to get into the sport.”
A very proud Johnson added of coaching O’Neill: “I took up coaching because I get a great thrill from watching others succeed. To see Neelam qualify for the team for Paris makes me very proud and is rich reward for all her hard work and dedication to her craft.”
Paralympics New Zealand CEO Greg Warnecke added: “We are ecstatic to name a three-strong Shooting Para sport team for Paris 2024. A huge congratulations to Michael for achieving the phenomenal milestone of a sixth successive Paralympic Games while it is also a massive achievement for Greg to return to the Paralympic fold after an eight-year gap. We are also hugely excited to welcome Neelam for what will be her Paralympic debut. We hope her presence on the team will help inspire and motivate other women to get involved in the sport.”
