Madison de Rozario : Disability | Partner | family

Madison de Rozario recently became the first Australian para-athlete to win four Commonwealth Games gold medals.

Madison de Rozario : Disability | Partner | family

Rozario is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair racer who specialises in middle and long-distance events.

She competed at the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals, three silver and a bronze.

She has also won ten medals (three gold, three silver and four bronze) at the World Para Athletics Championships and four gold at the Commonwealth Games.

De Rozario holds the world record in the Women’s 800m T53 and formerly in the Women’s 1500m T53/54.

Madison de Rozario Disability 

Madison de Rozario was a typical, happy four-year-old before she went into hospital with inflammation of the spinal cord. She left in a wheelchair, having developed transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition, that suddenly saw her declared a paraplegic.

For four-time Paralympian Madison de Rozario, success is not defined by her gold medals or marathon wins, but the person she has become since her 2008 Paralympics debut. 

“I’m very proud of the medals and wins. They were definitely the goals I set, but my idea of success is who I’ve had to become in order to achieve that,” Madison says.

“It’s in the people you surround yourself with, the sacrifices you make, the work you do and the mentality you have.”

The wheelchair racer recently added two more gold medals – for the 1500 and marathon – to her collection at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

For someone who’s spent almost 15 years competing at an elite level, Madison does not consider herself a competitive person. 

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games were broadcast on Channel 7, a move Madison says has made para sports more mainstream.

“I feel like Australia is falling in love with the individuals and that’s helping, seeing people in their entirety, not just as an athlete, not just some person with a disability,” she says.

“Then we’re kind of able to transfer that to people with disabilities who aren’t athletes.” 

Partner 

The couple are in the capital this weekend competing at the Canberra International, with Rozario preparing for her first Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.

Rozario, 24, has been with George for two and half years and said she’d love to become Australian teammates with her partner at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

“We’re all trying to get him to join us on the Australian team, it’s a very long process but we’re talking him around to it,” Rozario said.

“It’s nice having a partner who leads the same lifestyle but whether he becomes an Australian and we actually get him on the team, well that will be a pretty big achievement.”

George, 33, has been loving life Down Under but said he wasn’t sure if he was ready to turn his back on the country he’s represented for the past 14 years.

“I am a proud American who has represented the US in four Paralympic Games, so it would certainly be something different to represent a different a country, but never say never, we’ll see,” George said.

Family 

Madison De Rozario’s parents are the backbones of her success. She was born as a mixed-race child. Her father was born in Singapore and her mother is from Australia.

Madison De Rozario was raised and grew up in Perth by her parents.

Her parents are supportive and attentive to her needs. Her parents have always supported her in her athlete career. Moreover, she has two lovely sisters in her family other than her parents， who also unreservedly support her.

Madison De Rozario was diagnosed with Transverse myelitis.

At the age of four， she developed transverse myelitis， a neurological disease that infected the spinal cord and ended her wheelchair use.