Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch was inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions this week in recognition of her remarkable career in parasports.
Tesch attended five Paralympic Games with the Australian wheelchair basketball team, where she won silver medals at the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics and a bronze in 2008.
She then switched to parasailing, securing gold medals in the SKUD18 class at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.
Tesch said the news had come “out of the blue”.
“As a Labor MP I was surprised to receive an email from Sports Minister Alister Henskens,” she said.
“I thought at first it would be something to do with politics and it took a while for it to sink in that he was advising me I was to be inducted into the Hall of Champions.
“I didn’t really believe it for a few days – it was not something I had been aiming for.”
But Tesch said when she actually absorbed the news, she felt it was an “incredible honour”.
“The night itself was quite amazing,” she said.
“There I was in the company of these wonderful Australian sporting heroes – people like Dawn Fraser and Louise Sauvage.
“Craig Johnston was there – I grew up watching him play soccer – and basketball great Brad Dalton, who was always a hero of mine.”
Tesch said she was particularly proud of her achievements being a regional athlete.
“I did move to Sydney for a short time to train but most of my training was done here on the Central Coast,” she said.
“There were not a lot of resources for para-athletes back then – we didn’t have access to a lot of things others had.
“But I always pushed myself to be the best I could be and tried to be innovative- staying ahead of the curve and learning from others.
“I was just a battler from the Cast doing her best.”
Tesch said many people who knew her as a politician were surpised to learn of her history as a para-athlete.
“People sometimes forget that all parliamentarians have a life before they sign up for public service,” she said.
Since 1979, 377 sportsmen and women representing 56 sports have been added to the Honour Roll.
They include such sporting icons as Sir Donald Bradman, Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould and Dally Messenger.
More recent champions include Ian Thorpe, Layne Beachley and Michael O’Loughlin.
Athletes are approved for induction by the Minister for Sport following recommendations from the Hall of Champions Selection Committee and New South Wales peak sporting bodies.
Terry Collins