Nationality Australia | Name Julie Russell | |
Full name Julie Elizabeth Russell Born 20 August 1951 Adelaide | ||
Julie Elizabeth Russell (nee Mitchell) (born 20 August 1951) is an Australian Paralympic athlete, powerlifter and wheelchair basketballer.
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Personal
Russell was born on 20 August 1951 in Adelaide. As a toddler, she contracted polio, which caused paralysis in her lower body. In 2006, she was working for CRS Australia, an Australian Government rehabilitation agency. She has been married to Paralympic athlete, coach, and administrator Eric Russell since 1979.
Career
Russell won 4 gold medals, a silver and a bronze in athletics and archery at the 1979 Stoke Mandeville Paraplegic World Games. At the 1980 Arnhem Games, she won a silver medal in the Women's Pentathlon 3 event. At the 1984 New York/Stoke-Mandeville Games, she won a silver medal in the Women's Marathon 3 event and a bronze medal in the Women's Pentathlon 3 event. She won three silver medals at the 1988 Seoul Games, in the Women's 4 × 400 m Relay 2-6, Women's Pentathlon 3 and Women's Shot Put 3 events, and two bronze medals in the Women's Discus 3 and Women's Javelin 3 events. She was a member of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
She won a gold medal at the 1994 FESPIC Games in Beijing in the +82.5 kg event. At the IPC Powerlifting World Championships, she won a silver medal in 1998 in the Women's +82.5 kg event. At the European Powerlifting Championships, she won a silver medal in 1998 in the Women's +82.5 kg event and a gold medal in 1999 in the Women's +82.5 kg event. She competed in powerlifting at the 2000 Sydney Games, the first Paralympics in which women could compete in the sport, after lobbying for the inclusion of women's powerlifting in the Paralympics for the past fourteen years; she came seventh in the women's over 82.5 kg powerlifting event. She was coached in powerlifting by Ray Epstein. She received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for "outstanding contribution to Paralympic Powerlifting". She was one of four technical delegates at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games; she superfvised the Elite Athlete with a Disability Powerlifting event. She was also a referee in powerlifting at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Paralympics.