When Alexa Leary, who grew up in Yamba, was fighting for life in intensive care after an extremely serious 2021 cycling crash that almost claimed her life, her parents engaged a fortune teller who predicted she would survive and compete at the Paralympics.

But the fortune teller didn’t predict Alexa would become the golden girl of the 2024 Paris Paralympics by breaking the world record and taking home two gold medals, while, at the same time, winning the hearts of the nation she so proudly represented and gaining millions of admirers worldwide.

Alexa won gold in both the 100 metres S9 freestyle and the mixed 4×100 metre Medley Relay – 34 points and silver in the mixed 4×100 metre freestyle relay at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

As Alexa was still in the Olympic Village with the Australian Paralympic Team, her father Russell spoke exclusively to the CV Independent about his superstar daughter and her journey to Paralympic Gold.

“We moved to Yamba [] to give our kids a more simple life than on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“Alexa was in year four at St James Primary School, Yamba and then she went to McCauley Catholic College in Grafton.

“We didn’t even know that she could swim and the first person who recognised her potential was Richard Beresford from the Yamba Community Heated Pool, he came to us one day and said ‘your daughter can swim, so I want to send her to the Australian titles’.

“In her first Australian titles aged 13 she got third, then the next year at the All-Australian School Titles she won four gold medals, but she didn’t want to be a swimmer, she wanted to be a triathlete.”

To follow her dream, Russell said Alexa joined the Yamba Multisports Club (Triathlon Club).

“She did really well with the Yamba Triathlon Club for about 3 years, but it was really hard for her to go to school in Grafton and come home and have the time to train, so an opportunity came up in Noosa,” he said.

“Then we moved her to Noosa to be in the capital of the triathlon scene in Australia to train and a coach took her on board and saw that she had a future.”

Rapidly, Alexa showed her potential as a triathlete, winning Queensland and Australian titles in the 16 to under 19 years division, then coming second in the world in 2019.

“Alexa had her heart set on going to the Paris Olympics as a triathlete until a catastrophic cycling crash at 70km/h changed everything,” he said.

Alexa was on a training ride in the Noosa area on July 17, 2021, when her front wheel clipped the back wheel of the bike in front and she crashed and landed on her head, suffering severe head injuries, a fractured scapula, shoulder blade, wrist, ribs, a collapsed lung, and serious nerve damage.

“A passing doctor positioned her so she could stay alive and breathe properly until the ambulance got there…I came along, and the paramedic didn’t know I was her father, and he said, ‘it doesn’t look good’,” Russell said.

“We went to Sunshine Coast Hospital emergency department, and we were told in no uncertain terms, ‘if she gets to Brisbane alive, she will have no quality of life’.”

For most people this would spell the end of their competitive sporting career, but not Alexa. What followed was 111 days in hospital.

“Alexa spent two weeks in intensive care, four months in hospital, then three months in rehab,” Russell said.

“With brain damage it’s not easy, the anger came out, she lost her hair, she was very confused, she lost all of her friends because they didn’t understand brain damage, it was hard for us, we took a lot of aggression from her, and we didn’t know what to do.”

Alexa is one of Russell and Belinda Leary’s seven children.

“Life was still tough for all of us and the family, when we were away for four months our other children suffered because we’re not around them because we had to move to Brisbane,” he said.

“We had a girl who couldn’t walk or talk, she didn’t move anything, the only thing that she could move was her left arm after about eight weeks, then the rest of her faculties slowly came back.

“The reason she’s in the Paralympics is because the left side of her brain which controls the right side of her body doesn’t operate properly, and we never thought it would actually operate at all.

“Then it was just a slow progression, she didn’t have a clue who we were.”

The Move for Lex campaign was launched to help her regain memories and movement which quickly gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.

“One day with her left hand, Alexa was scrolling through the Move for Lex, and she seemed to be taking it in, so at that stage we thought there is someone in there, we just don’t know how badly brain damaged she is,” he said.

“It just took time, every day we lived at that hospital, and we worked with her, doing what ever we could do to help and just being there to support her.

“The biggest turning point came when we moved her to the Princess Alexandra Hospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit Biru, and as Covid had hit, when we moved her to Biru we couldn’t go and see her, it was very, very tough, we couldn’t see her for 2 weeks and that killed us.

“After that 2 weeks she could start to walk, the talking was coming, which was a huge changing factor.”

After 2 months at Biru, Russell said Alexa came home to Noosa aged 20 and they took her to Eden Private Rehabilitation Hospital at Cooroy daily for three months.

“She lived at home, she had no hair, no licence and was very frustrated with life,” he said.

“It’s only her inspirational fighting will that has got her through this.”

About 12 months after her crash, Alexa got back in the pool.

“She began training in the pool at Noosa and got noticed by one of the Australian coaches and we took her to Adelaide to the Australian titles where she came third and she got spotted by and Australian selector and she was put in an Australian Dolphins team,” he said.

“Alexa got to the world titles last year where she won gold and silver, then she got her focus back and said, ‘I want to swim’.

“After the world titles was a big change for her because she realised, she had the skill and potential…so she treats her swimming now like her job, which it is.

“That’s her income and she’s a very gifted young girl to be able to be given an income from doing what she loves.”

Alexa’s fierce determination, tenacity and incredible fighting spirit can be traced back to her parents, Russell was a former basketball player and cyclist, and Belinda was a triathlete.

“Sport is all through our family,” he said.

“She wouldn’t be alive today without her incredible fighting spirit and she wouldn’t have won 2 gold medals without that spirit.”

To support Alexa’s Paralympic campaign, a large contingent of family and friends travelled to Paris to cheer her on poolside.

Russell said the atmosphere and excitement at the 2024 Paris Paralympics was electric.

In her first race, the women’s 50 metre freestyle S10, Alexa convincingly won her heat before coming 6th in the final, which was followed by the mixed 4×100 metre Medley Relay 34 points, where she anchored the team and mowed down her male competitor from the Netherlands, who had a large lead, to win gold.

“In the relay, for her to be labelled with Ian Thorpe in a comeback swim was quite incredible,” Russell said.

“There was no hope of Australia winning that, and for her to bring it home the way she did was just inspiring.”

Next was Alexa’s ‘pet’ event, the 100 metre S9 Freestyle in which she set a new world record of 59.60 in a promising heat swim.

“In the heat of the 100, we thought she went out too hard too early, and the American girl she wasn’t far off the back of her,” he said.

In the 100 metres S9 final, Alexa set another world record of 59.53, claiming her first individual Paralympic gold medal.

Russell said he almost lost his voice from cheering so loudly for Alexa.

In her final race of the games, Alexa headed the mixed 4×100 metre freestyle 34-point relay where Australia set a new world record but were narrowly beaten by Italy.

“The Australian’s were very unlucky last night not to win that race over Italy, it was so close,” Russell said.

Now the 2024 Paralympics are over, Russell said he and Belinda are meeting Alexa and enjoying a holiday together before returning to Australia and looking to the future.

“From here we will give her a good rest, then get her focused for the world titles next year, then the next Olympics,” he said.

“She’s keen to represent Australia again at the next Olympics, she really wants it now.” 

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 11 September 2024.
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