Paralympians set shining example in Tokyo

Well before lockdowns and border closures, they had a life degree in resilience.

As much of Australia continues to struggle through the pandemic, the Tokyo Paralympics will continue the welcome distraction and morale boost provided by the Olympics.

Cole, who lost her right leg when she was a child because of cancer, is one of the stars of a team expected to continue Australia's golden Tokyo run.

Or, as the Paralympians like to say, the Olympics was the warm-up and they're the main event.

Australia has a team of 179 in Tokyo, it's biggest contingent for an overseas Paralympics.

It has finished fifth on the medal tally at the past four Games, winning 22 golds and 81 in total at Rio.

The opening ceremony is on Tuesday night and competition will run until September 5.

Cole, 30, is competing at her fourth Paralympics and is a six-time swimming gold medallist.

She welcomes the spotlight and setting an example in the midst of COVID.

"No-one plans on acquiring a disability, so they've come to a point in their life where something very unexpected and it's turned their world upside down," she said.

"The whole country is going through that at the moment.

"We've been through it before. A lot of the athletes would have done a lot of physical rehabilitation, but not only did they get to the other side of that, they decided they wanted to be a champion athlete and one of the best athletes in the world.

"To be in a team of 179 athletes who have that mindset is very humbling.

"We saw how successful the Olympic team were and I'm assuming the Paralympic team is going to be just as successful. We're going to have a great time."

But even a Paralympic gold medallist is not immune to COVID's stresses.

Cole started suffering panic attacks early last year for the first time and the pandemic made them worse.

"It was really hard because I didn't know what was happening to me," she said.

"It was just a really hard year for anybody.

"I had this thing where I was just hoping it would get better and I was 'OK, this isn't going anywhere'."

Cole has worked with a psychologist and learned the hard way about how to cope.

"I know that in my training, looking towards Tokyo and adding COVID on top of that, whenever I'm feeling very overwhelmed, I always ask myself 'what am I going to do now to" make myself better?'," she said.

"That's usually swimming-related.

"I don't think about the future, I just think about getting my s*** done right now.

"It's 11 words and it makes quite a big difference."

While Cole has her panic under control, she remains acutely embarrassed about the life-size cardboard cutout of her that was in supermarkets across the country for a promotion during the Olympics.

"My partner was in the supermarket with me, pointing out my cardboard box," she said.

"I was thinking 'thank goodness I'm wearing a mask and no-one can recognise me', but then I had this big prosthetic leg sticking out of my shorts.

"My mask will hide me, but my leg will give me away."

Australian Associated Press