PARALYMPIC gold medallist Prue Watt will be the region’s new Australia Day ambassador for 2014 and will attend community celebrations in Laurieton, Wauchope and Port Macquarie on 26 January.
She will replace entertainer Judy Stone, who was forced to withdraw from the Australia Day Ambassador Program this year for personal reasons.
Prue was born 16 weeks premature in 1987, resulting in severe retinal damage in both eyes. Her visual impairment did nothing to stop her from striving to achieve her goals and she excelled in swimming and alpine skiing from an early age.
One of the earliest highlights of her career was selection in the Athens 2004 Paralympic team. She went on to win six medals (five silver and a bronze) and was named Australia’s Junior Female Paralympian of the Year.
Prue went on to win four gold and two silver medals at the 2009 Inaugural World Short Course Championships in Rio de Janeiro.
