Paralympian Maddie McTernan: “Be Brave. Be Strong. You’ve Got This.”

Growing up, Maddie McTernan wasn’t all that keen on swimming as a sport. Now a two-time Paralympic medallist and S14-classified Paralympic swimmer, it’s safe to say swimming has become something she loves.

Maddie tried lots of sports as a kid: Swimming, basketball, gymnastics, nippers, tennis and karate. But it wasn’t until she was in Year 7, in 2014, that she started getting more invested in swimming specifically. 

“At the time I was almost at the point of quitting the sport,” Maddie remembers. “I liked the racing part but I did not like the training part of swimming… it was just not my thing.

“I’d never actually heard of Para-swimming until 2014, so I’d never heard of the Paralympics or anything like that.”

Two sessions a week in the pool quickly became seven as her interest and skill ramped up. She had only taken swimming “serious” for about a month when she started seeing a rapid improvement in her times. After that, it was full steam ahead. 

“It was a quick transition, but it was fairly smooth… I started to enjoy training a lot at the time.”

Her swimming aspirations were further cemented at the Australian Open Championships in 2016, where she saw the athletes announced for the Rio team and thought, “I wanna be a part of that.” That, and the “surreal” moment of making the Australian Dolphins team for the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships.

Maddie’s swimming career is already incredible, with highlights including:

• Breaking the Women’s 400m Freestyle (S14) world record at the 2020 Australian Short Course Championships
• Being part of the gold medal and world record in the S14 Mixed Medley Relay at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester
• Securing a silver medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics
• Winning a silver medal in the mixed 4×100 meters Freestyle Relay S14 at 2024 Paris Paralympics

Though, the journey to these wins hasn’t been without challenges.

Maddie recalls that when she was first diagnosed with her disability, she didn’t want it. “I felt like, why me? Because I grew up in a small town and at school I was the only girl with a diagnosis,” she says. “I just felt a bit alone and thought, I’ve gotta keep this to myself… I don’t want anyone knowing about it.”

However, Maddie’s mum, Allison McTernan, would remind her to think about disability by taking the word, and removing the ‘dis’ – this just leaves the ‘ability’ to continue.

Maddie shares that her ADHD, autism and anxiety tend to be more noticeable in a social setting than a sporting one – though the ADHD can make it difficult to get the right amount of sleep before an early wake up call.

“The challenges I find with being intellectually impaired are things like learning [a new] technique, because it takes forever for me to pick up technique and pick up skills. So what might take an able-bodied athlete two times, or once to pick it up and they will nail it, for me it would take me 10 times to be able to nail it.”

‘Intellectual impairment’ is an umbrella term, and impairments in this category are often not visible in the same way physical impairments are. Finding coaches who understood how to work with Maddie has been key to her journey, and a challenge at times. 

“Taking on a Para-athlete for any coach is actually a big task,” she explains. “So to try and find the right coach has been a bit of a struggle. But I have found some good coaches along the way.”

Allison agrees that there are still barriers being broken down for people with intellectual impairments, even at the elite level. “People forget, because they don’t have a visible disability,” says Allison of the need for better accommodations. “…It doesn’t matter who you are. Everybody has a right to access and, you know, participate in sport and be the best they can be.”

It does feel like good change is underway. Even comparing Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024, the McTernans noticed a shift: Not only in organisational support for athletes with intellectual impairments, but also in the general visibility and recognition for Para-sport.

Paris was the most visible Paralympic Games thus far with more than 225 platforms covering it globally, from broadcasters to social platforms – and there were plenty of people tuning in to get behind it! The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) alone reported an 81 per cent growth in views on their platform compared to the coverage of Tokyo.

Maddie’s ultimate goal for the future is getting to the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles to win her first individual medal. In the meantime, it’s business as usual – she is training hard for the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships this September, with nine swim sessions per week, three gym sessions, PT, fortnightly physiotherapy and massage.

Having always been an animal lover, she uses her limited spare time to volunteer at the Animal Welfare League QLD (a great way to relax her mind after training, she says) and help at Arundel Park Riding for the Disabled.

Her advice to aspiring athletes? Just do your best, and do what you love. “It’s very nerve wracking, especially if there’s not a lot of people that have that same disability. Be brave. Be Strong. You’ve got this.”

Related: Just Do Your Best: Paralympians on overcoming challenges

A note from NDSP

We have had the privilege of helping another member of the McTernan family for five years now as their NDIS Plan Management specialists. Maddie’s 12-year-old brother has a rare genetic disorder called NRXN1 deletion syndrome; this is associated with a range of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders such as speech and language delay, epilepsy, hypotonia, and behavioural difficulties. The impact of his disability makes getting the right supports, and the right help managing his NDIS plan, very important.

When the opportunity came up to interview Maddie, we were thrilled. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Maddie and Allison McTernan again for sharing their story, and their time, with us.

Best of luck for World Champs this year, Maddie – we’ll certainly be cheering you on!