Australian swimmer celebrates gold after fortune teller’s prophecy

PARIS: Three years after surviving a horrific cycling accident, Australian Paralympic swimmer Alexa Leary won her second gold medal in world record time in Paris on Wednesday.

With her time of 59.53 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle final, Leary broke her world record in the preliminary rounds of the S9 category, which includes swimmers with severe weakness in one leg.

The spirited 23-year-old from the Sunshine Coast was in a coma in hospital in 2021 after suffering permanent brain and leg injuries in a high-speed bicycle accident that left a ruptured lung and several broken bones.

Her parents were warned several times by their doctors that their daughter might not survive and turned to a psychic.

“When I was in intensive care, my dad got a fortune teller and the fortune teller read that I wanted to go to the Paralympics. And now I'm here,” she said.

“Oh my God. I did it.”

Leary's positive attitude and triumph over adversity have inspired Australia and given her a profile to rival that of the country's able-bodied Olympic swimming champions Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown.

Her parents Russell and Belinda watched proudly from the stands at the Arena La Défense as their daughter won her second gold medal of the Games after winning the mixed medley relay.

“Without my mom and dad, I wouldn’t be here,” Leary said.

“When I was in the brain ward, my father stopped working and my mother stopped. They stayed in the hospital with me for six months.

“Dad knelt next to my bed every day in that hospital.

“Daddy will have lots of tissues in his eyes, wiping away his little tears. He won't stop crying.”