Grovedale’s Jemima Moore has reached Australian Paralympic Awards’ Team of the Year finals in Sydney.
“I didn’t even know it was a category,” the 24-year-old said ahead of Thursday night’s ceremony.
Moore teamed with fellow wheelchair racers Angie Ballard, Christie Dawes and Madison de Rozario to win silver in Rio’s 400m relay behind Paralympic powerhouse China.
The quartet completed the T53/54 race in 3:46.63, its best time of the season.
They placed third but were disqualified before successfully appealing the decision and finishing second.
Moore tagged outside of the transition zone but officials later found an American racer sitting in her lane had blocked her path.
Moore experienced “a clash of emotions” as she took the podium for her second silver medal.
“I was happy and excited but it was sort of overshadowed by all the drama in the relay.”
A spinal virus left Moore a paraplegic at the age of six. After regaining some leg strength she was diagnosed with incomplete paraplegia.
Moore began athletics as a teenager in 2007 at the suggestion of the mother of Australian Paralympic gold-medallist Richard Colman.
A year later she won the Victoria State Championships’ 100-metre race.
Moore debuted at the Paralympics in Beijing aged 16, winning silver in the 4x100m relay with the same team as in Rio.
2016 Australian Paralympic Team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin congratulated the team for its medal and nomination.
“To see these girls on the podium after a tumultuous race was a proud moment not only for me, but for Australia,” she said.
“Jemima and the other three girls raced hard to win silver.”
