Breaking barriers ft. Para athletes Jaydon Page & Richard Nicholson

Acknowledgement of Country: As we share a yarn today, we honour the stories that have been told on this land for thousands of years and acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land we're recording on and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Jaydon Page PLY: Since the last time, what, four years ago, I've learned so much. Since the last games, how to prepare myself mentally, physically, all the right ques and stuff. Yeah, I'm so confident.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Safe, fair, and inclusive sports should be how sports deliver in Australia and whoever's delivering it should never compromise on those three things.

Jaydon Page PLY: Unfortunately, when you've got a disability you kind of know that you're a little bit different to the not average person but just a bit different to everyone else that you're with in that school. It tends to hit you a little bit.

Richard Nicholson PLY: You can't be what you can't see. There's a sort of a quote in that sort of space and sport has the ability to change the way people look at people with disabilities, and sport also has an ability to change the way people with disabilities think and feel about themselves.

Jaydon Page PLY: The best thing about para-athletics, someone could absolutely come from nowhere and instantly is one of the best in sport. It's kind of the thing with para-athletics that I've always seen, and I don't mind that because it kind of always makes you want to find a bit harder.

Tim Gavel: Welcome back to On Side and our Commonwealth Games podcast series from Clean to Gold: The Road to Glasgow 2026. I'm Tim Gavel. Joining us today, Australian para-athletes Jaydon Page and Richard Nicholson. Jaydon is one of Australia's rising para-athletic stars. A Canberra-based T47 sprinter, Jayden made his Paralympic debut as a teenager and claimed silver in the 100 metres in Birmingham. That was in 2022 and he continues his journey now towards Glasgow 2026. Richo is a five-time Paralympian and a champion both on the national and international stage.

In addition to his Paralympic history, he competed in three Commonwealth Games, Manchester, Melbourne, and Glasgow. He won silver in the bench press para sport for men in Manchester, 5th in the discus throw para men in Melbourne and he finished 7th in the 1500 metres para sport wheelchair in 2014 in Glasgow.

Outside of Paralympic Games, he's competed in marathons across the world from New Zealand, Korea, Switzerland, and New York. Welcome to both of you.

And Jaydon, I guess we've got both the old and new here, so I'll go to you first, and how are you feeling about your second Commonwealth Games?

Jaydon Page PLY: Extremely confident.

Tim Gavel: Are you? Yeah.

Jaydon Page PLY: Extremely confident.

Tim Gavel: Well, that's good to hear. Yeah.

Jaydon Page PLY: Oh, you know, since the last time, what, four years ago, I've learnt so much. Since the last games, how to prepare myself mentally, physically, all the right cues and stuff. Yeah, I'm so confident.

Tim Gavel: Well, that's good to hear because I guess you don't want to be going in pessimistic, but you're running well, you're competing well, you're training well.

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah, we actually had a comp just a few days ago, about two days ago, and pretty consistent, 2 11.0s in the same day, so pretty happy with that.

Tim Gavel: Yes. And Richo, your mindset going into your Commonwealth Games, you competed at three, were you always super confident going into competition?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Well, I guess I competed in three different sports across those three Games, so as a powerlifter, I was in good shape, and I was looking for a good result and got a silver medal there.

And then in Melbourne, yeah, I wasn't as confident because I sort of was quite new to discus throwing, and then in Glasgow in the 1500 metre wheelchair race, unfortunately, Kurt Fearnley made me extremely sick, we were both sick as dogs and I barely made the start line that year so, that's just the way it goes.

But going in, you always want to feel as confident as possible and yeah, I'm envious of Jaydon here like that's awesome, good luck to you.

Tim Gavel: Just on your para journey, because I think you're in archery at one stage, weren't you as well?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Oh, I did that as a teenager. Like, yeah, it wasn't anything to do with parasport. Long before I got involved.

Tim Gavel: But it was an introduction to sport, I guess.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Well yeah, I've always been always involved in sport in some way, really. So yeah.

Tim Gavel: How did you get into para-athletics?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Well, my foray into para sport started with powerlifting, and then after about 8 years in that sport, yeah, I just saw opportunities in wheelchair racing and just decided to pursue that, learn some new skills, make some new friends, travel to different places and race some different races.

So yeah, it was kind of natural transition in some ways and created a whole bunch of new life experiences for me.

Tim Gavel: Is it unusual for para-athletes to compete in so many different disciplines, as you have?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Not really. There's quite a lot of talent transfer happening across sports and yeah, there's been, yeah, a number of really successful examples of that.

One of the latest being probably Lauren Parker, she's doing very well. Between triathlon, cycling, she went to the Winter Paralympic Games, so she's unstoppable.

Tim Gavel: Well, Jaydon, what about your, I guess, journey so far into para sports, how did it start?

Jaydon Page PLY: Mine's a little bit of a late one. Most people, most like Paralympians, they normally start around when they're 10 or they get some type of pathway. I kind of started when I was 15, growing up playing rugby league all my life and football or soccer, whatever you want to call it, never really had any passion for athletics. I had nothing, I knew no knowledge about para-athletics in general, I probably only knew one star and that was probably Usain Bolt.

And when I was 15, my PE coach knew Iryna Dvoskina and said to Irina 'Look, Jayden's going to be at a race meet this week, you should probably have a look. He's a T47, be ideal for you.' And yeah, had a race and all of a sudden, I ran a qualifier to make Tokyo Games in 2021.

Tim Gavel: T47, can you describe the category there for us?

Jaydon Page PLY: Basically, it's a whole arm/limb deficiency. Basically, my whole left arm is underdeveloped, I don't have a ulna and a curved radius and basically, my left arm is completely shortened to my right arm and significantly weaker.

Tim Gavel: So, you compete against – tell us about the T47 category then. What athletes do you compete against?

Jaydon Page PLY: So basically, the most common T47 athlete that I will compete against is someone that is missing a hand and basically just has like kind of like a nub –

Tim Gavel: Yep.

Jaydon Page PLY: – but still have the physical strengths of what they would have in their biceps, but just no hand.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. You won the silver medal, as we mentioned, in Birmingham, what a moment that must have been for you.

Jaydon Page PLY: I was in complete shock because I was only 17 at the time and very fresh at 17, so...

Tim Gavel: Still at school or you?

Jaydon Page PLY: Still at school at the time, yeah. I was actually studying two days before the race. So yeah, I was pretty nervous, but I had Evan O'Hanlon as my roommate at the time, so he was keeping me in check.

So, I was actually kind of confident going into that race, knowing that I had someone like him looking over everything I was doing.

Tim Gavel: Well, he was a very confident runner, wasn't he?

Jaydon Page PLY: Very.

Tim Gavel: He was a cerebral palsy runner, wasn't he?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah, CP runner, yeah. T38.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. Rich, I guess it must be heartening to see the next generation coming through and just so excited about competing, and that's what's good about the Commonwealth Games, isn't it? Because able-bodied, para-athletes competing in the same event.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah, it's a really unique opportunity in terms of those large multi-sport events to have, you know, completely integrated team like that and I was very excited.

In fact, I stayed in powerlifting an extra two years than what I thought I would just to have the opportunity to compete in, I guess, a unified team like that and go away with the Australian team and compete at the Commonwealth Games. Yeah, it's a great experience and it's a great model.

Tim Gavel: Well, I know you've been to one before, but I just wanted to get Rich's perspective on what it's like mixing with all of the other athletes because, as you mentioned, quite a unique experience.

But what is it like? Do you share experiences with each other?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Oh yeah. I mean, well, the good thing is you have those large dining halls and you're sharing meals with different athletes at every meal and yeah, I can certainly say that throughout the three Commonwealth Games I competed at, all the athletes were very welcoming and inclusive and happy to see the para-athletes there and competing and competing alongside them and sharing all the training venues. It was a very positive experience for me.

Tim Gavel: Well, they must have been surprised to see you transitioning from sport to sport to sport. Thinking 'Weren't you a track and field athlete last time we saw you?'

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah.

Tim Gavel: 'Now you're doing powerlifting.' (laughter)

Richard Nicholson PLY: (laughter) Anyway, yeah. That was my journey but yeah, I have to say that the team members and staff and athletes were all really, really great and it was just a great experience.

Tim Gavel: What about for you, Jaydon? You went to Birmingham, what was that experience like?

Jaydon Page PLY: I actually had a really good experience. I actually met and made a lot of friends on that team, especially with other countries. A few from Great Britain, even Jamaica, which was the interesting one, making friends from Jamaica.

But no, it was a lot to experience because my first ever Games was Tokyo and we were all separated from each other, couldn't speak to other athletes, dining halls were a no-go for Team Australia for a precaution.

Tim Gavel: That's during COVID, wasn't it?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah, exactly, through COVID. And yeah, and we had no fans at the stadiums, in 2021. So going from that to 2022, where everything's open and you've got constant athletes around you 24/7, it's like one of the best experiences because you go from watching them on TV to now, you're sitting next to them at the dining hall. It's an amazing feeling.

Tim Gavel: So, your race, the 100 metres T47, do you know all the athletes that you're going to be racing against?

Jaydon Page PLY: Roughly. The best thing about para-athletics, someone could absolutely come from nowhere and instantly is one of the best in sport. It's kind of the thing with para-athletics that I've always seen, and I don't mind that because it kind of always makes you want to train a bit harder.

So, to what I know of, I'm up against a South African and a Great Britain athlete. One of them is really my truly good mates off the track so I know roughly about my competition, yeah.

Tim Gavel: How do you adjust when you get there? What do you do to make it feel like home?

Jaydon Page PLY: I haven't actually done that much stuff when it comes to making me feel comfortable. I have my PlayStation, you know, just kind of get my head locked into a different world but apart from that, I'll just keep my routines the same, walking at night, a nice walk in the morning or a nice walk in the afternoon, kind of just sit on my breathing and work on my airflow, my air techniques, and listen to music. I'm basically at home.

Tim Gavel: So, Richo, Jaydon just saying that he's got his PlayStation, but did you make anything feel like home when you got to the villages, whether it be Para Games or the Commonwealth Games?

Richard Nicholson PLY: I didn't really concentrate on trying to make things feel like home, but I would just put some clothes away and just make the room feel as comfortable as possible and yeah, I didn't really think about – I mean, I was away, so I was enjoying being away, I guess, enjoying all the experiences.

But being somewhere else, I guess that's one of the things that I loved about being an athlete was the chance to go away and be somewhere else and meet new people and do new things and all those competition experiences and things, it’s all part of it.

Like, I never felt like I needed to make it feel homely to relax, just wasn't part of my routine, I guess.

Tim Gavel: Yes, unlike Jaydon I guess, it is a battle for a wheelchair athlete to travel to somewhere overseas like Glasgow or Manchester, et cetera. I mean, you've got your wheelchair on the plane, accessibility sometimes isn't great, is it?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Oh yeah, that's a problem, particularly in Europe because Europe's pretty old. (laughter) The more historic a place is, the less access is probably available at the time, and even in London, when we were there for the London Paralympics, a lot of the train stations still don't have lifts and we had to catch a train two stops further than we wanted to get off because we could cross the platform there at that train station and then come back to where we went to get off.

So, there were things like that were really challenging to work out, and that's just being in a different city, but you find a way.

Tim Gavel: Must be a relief to get to the start line, I guess. (laughter)

Richard Nicholson PLY: (laughter)

Tim Gavel: Yeah, what about you these days? Do you still go for a long road...

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah, I go out with the wheelchair –

Tim Gavel: Yeah.

Richard Nicholson PLY: – racers most weekends when they're going out on the road. We'll do a 20 or 30k ride, but they'll be in their race chairs, and I'll be in a hand cycle that has gears, –

Tim Gavel: Yeah.

Richard Nicholson PLY: – it's 10 times more comfortable and a lot easier.

So, I can keep up with them, I can't sit in front of them anymore, I'm not quite fast enough for that, but I can keep up with them on a good day for over 30ks so.

Tim Gavel: Because you're still involved in sport, aren't you? At the ACT Academy of Sport. Tell us about your role there.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah. So, I was just started a new role there as the Para Unit Manager. So each of the state institutes and academy have stood up a standalone sort of para unit within their organisation and we're looking at sort of lengthening the pathway a little bit, doing a lot of TID and bringing athletes into that high performance system a little bit earlier in their sporting journey to try and, I guess, accelerate their development, all in a name of sort of creating a much bigger pool of athletes to draw upon for Brisbane 2032. Stronger domestic competition and yeah hopefully a whole bunch of new athletes across all our para sports.

Tim Gavel: Have you seen much change in the para scene over the last say 10 years? In the lead up to 2032 I'd imagine it is going to be accelerated as you said, but have you seen the gradual change or has it been a major change?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Well, I have to say in 94, the federal government put in 54.9 million into parasport, which effectively doubled their investment and there's been a significant change since then.

They've actually called it the para uplift program, and yeah, there's a lot of money going into sport, into the state institutes and academies, we've set up these para units, a lot of money going into classification and things like that, so I have to say it's really been accelerating in the last few years all with a view to 2032.

Tim Gavel: What about you, Jaydon? Have you noticed that there is more support for para-athletes?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah. Like of course, I'm still 21, I'm still learning a lot, what's happened in the past and what's different now but the one thing that really raised an eyebrow for me, which was really good feedback, last year for the New Delhi World Championships, we actually, we had development spots made for a lot of young debutantes to come up and race in the 2025 World Championships in Parathletics.

And we had about maybe 20 athletes just underage of 20 that made their debut and a few older than that so that was fantastic. 

And the one thing that was big for me to realise was we actually had a para camp in Brisbane last year and we had about two of them where the able bodies, they will probably have about maybe four or five a year for relays and stuff, we actually had a full para camp organised from Paralympics Australia to actually get to know each other, to get a lot of us in one room and understand who we are and get to know everyone before we head off to those Games and that was actually a pretty massive thing because I haven't experienced that in my whole para career so far in the six years I've been here so that was pretty nice.

Tim Gavel: Richo mentioned Brisbane 2032, is that a goal for you? You're 21 years of age now, do you sort of see that as something where you'd really like to compete in a home Olympic Games? Paralympic Games?

Jaydon Page PLY: I was actually looking forward to competing at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, but that got unfortunately flipped for us. But yeah, no, I'll be in my prime in 2032. I'll be just be just be just between 27 at that point, so I'll be 26 when I race, so I'll be fully in my prime, which you couldn't ask more for at a home Games.

So, yeah, that's my whole, that's what we've been building for now, is 2032.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. We talk about fair, inclusive sport, sport being safe for everybody, obviously, that's very important, isn't it, for a para-athlete, Richo?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah, well, I think those should be guiding principles for any sport. Able-bodied, Paralympic athlete, club athlete, those – safe, fair and inclusive sports should be how sports delivered in Australia and whoever's delivering it should never compromise on those three things and that should just be the way sports done in Australia, and that might mean – I guess it's the same for everybody. The rules should be the same, it should be equitable and fair and inclusive and, yeah.

Tim Gavel: Especially so in para sport.

Richard Nicholson PLY: As people who deliver sport, that's what we need to strive to deliver.

Tim Gavel: Because para sport, you really want inclusiveness, don't you? You want to make sure that everybody who wants to participate in sport is able to do so, no matter their disability.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah, absolutely. You should have an opportunity somewhere. Yeah.

Tim Gavel: You feel the same, Jaydon? I guess you may have seen barriers in the past. Not sure, but...

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah. I mean, this one's always a, this one's the hardest one about para-athletics. Like, trying to get young people or any disabled person into para-athletics or just para sport in general is actually very difficult. I've come across maybe six different athletes that have 'um and ah'd' on doing para athletics or just any disabled sport in general because they think it's weird or they don't want to be looked at in a different way, some of them have cerebral palsy, some of them don't want to be looked at because of their legs, and sometimes, I've heard sometimes parenting can be hard.

If you're sheltered, like if you shelter the kid before going into sports can be difficult. For me, I was quite fortunate that my parents just chucked me on a motorbike when I was four years old so kind of that fear or anything like that was gone on what people thought and stuff like that, so it can be sometimes tricky for young disabled people, disabled people in general, to get into para sports. It can be actually quite tricky.

Tim Gavel: Is there a fear of putting yourself out there too?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah.

Tim Gavel: That you don't want to be seen as being different.

Jaydon Page PLY: Well, you're now kind of opening up the world to seeing you in a kind of like almost in a vulnerable spot because some people never seen a T38 sprint or a T36 sprint and see them have a cerebral palsy reaction, like a tense reaction in their body, and people haven't seen that. Some people can, unfortunately, can be cruel and judge. It's kind of a reality of the sport sometimes.

Tim Gavel: Can sport do better, do you think?

Jaydon Page PLY: Always.

Tim Gavel: Yep.

Jaydon Page PLY: Always. Like, I've been quite fortunate since I've been in the sport that para athletics is more, I wouldn't say accepted, but is more recognised with some of the able bodies in the sport, like Joshua Azzopardi and Jacob Despard, we're quite good friends with each other and it's nice to have able bodies that see what you do, see how you train, know that you train just as hard as they do, and you see the passion that you guys both have for the same sport. That's always really nice.

Tim Gavel: Richard, you got some thoughts on, I guess, the accessibility and the fact that some para-athletes feel uncomfortable at first, but once they get into the sport, they realise there is a support system there for them.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Yeah. I guess one of the, I mean, there's a lot of barriers that can, hinder a person's ability to get involved, but that could be just physical access to a venue, they might need modified equipment, the cost of that equipment, transport, a whole range of things but probably the number one, I've been working in this space for 30 years and the number one common barrier is still the attitude.

And that could be the sport or local coaches just feeling a fear of the unknown, not knowing what to say or what to do or feeling that they need to know a lot about a particular impairment before they can actually include someone, and that's actually rarely the case.

So, there's definitely a sort of still a fear on the side of sport and as Jayden was saying, some people are nervous about sort of entering an environment where they're not sure of themselves.

They've probably done some sport at school and because of their impairment, they're usually finishing last or they're not able to do certain activities so pursuing sports not been high on their list of things to do.

But one thing I can say is sport has the ability to change the way people look at people with disabilities, and sport also has an ability to change the way people with disabilities think and feel about themselves.

So, I think there's huge positives for people with disabilities being involved in sport. It works both ways and there's more positive outcomes than there are ever negative outcomes so changing those attitudes and allowing people an opportunity that people find their own pathway, and for me it's changed my life.

I didn't start in disability specific sport until I was 23 and I've been working in it for 25 years at the ASC, AIS, Sport Integrity Australia, now back at the ACT Academy of Sport, I've competed in multiple Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, World Championships, and marathons. Yeah, and it's definitely, it's changed my life and changed the way I thought about myself growing up and my role, what I would do in life.

So, sports are a fantastic tool for developing people in all sorts of ways.

Tim Gavel: Is bullying at a young age, is that part of life as a person with a disability?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Bullying was never really a big feature in my life. I always felt I had a good number and good circle of friends. I'd never felt that was a major factor for me, but it's certainly not the case for everybody.

Tim Gavel: How did you handle things when you were growing up, Jaydon?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah, unfortunately I had the other page at the script, unfortunately for that one. All it takes, like this is my experience, all it takes is one kid in year two or year one to kind of keep going at a rate to kind of put you down in a way. That's just what kids do, but unfortunately, when you've got a disability and you kind of know that you're a little bit different to the, not average person, just a bit different to everyone else that you're with in that school, it tends to hit you a little bit and unfortunately some kids join in on that.

And it wasn't until maybe year 7 or year 8 for myself where I did move schools, that I actually got some confidence because I had some people that were more mentally mature also in years above me that kind of made me feel more almost as like I was acceptable to be around people my age and that actually really helped me and they're still great mates of mine to this day. 

But yeah, unfortunately there is that type that you can get bullied in school. I know I've been working with Paralympics Australia with two of our debutants that have received some type of bullying from their school, so just trying to work with them and try to get them to understand, it's just kids being kids.

Tim Gavel: Does it give you strength now as a Commonwealth Games representative about to head across to Glasgow, do you draw on that strength? You've had a fair journey to get to this point.

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah. It's been nice, like what's been the biggest thing for myself is the people that I've had in the Paralympic space and also Olympic space, having a Matt Beckham or Melissa Breen or Iryna or an Evan, they've helped me understand it in a mature way and tried even, it's not even just about the sport itself, it's actually becoming a better person and helping the others around you.

And leading into Commonwealth Games, as I mentioned before, I was just at a Brisbane camp, I'm the most, I had the most experience at Games and I'm only 21 years of age.

We have 28-year-olds or 24-year-olds, and we have a lot of under 20-year-olds there, so just giving them any type of experience that I've gained from others that have won gold medals at Paralympic events or world championships, or a Comm Games has been actually really special.

Tim Gavel: And what advice did you give to them as the older statesman in the team? (laughter)

Jaydon Page PLY: Oh, okay. So, the first one for me, there was two of them that was talking about running a particular time and I said, 'You can't stress about something that you can't achieve right now. Like you're not racing today, you're not racing tomorrow, you can't stress on a time that doesn't exist yet.

You got to go out there, focus on what you're going to do and give yourself the best opportunity to achieve that time before you can talk about times.' I remember I used to do it and then Evan O'Hanlon kind of gave me a smack up the backside and said 'Do not talk about times. It will happen.'

Tim Gavel: Get rid of superstitions. (laughter).

Jaydon Page PLY: Yep. (laughter)

Tim Gavel: That was advice that somebody provided to us the other day, said, whatever you do –

Richard Nicolson PLY: Don't start something.

Tim Gavel: – don't start something you've got no control over. Richo, it must be heartening to hear some of the advice, I guess, that we're hearing from Jaydon, but also his perspective on things. And it's really important, isn't it, to have some perspective? Because otherwise, if you go in just saying I'm going to win and going to do this and going to do that.

Richard Nicholson PLY: Oh yeah, I mean, and it's all a learning curve. I can think back to I had some great mentors when I sort of entered Paralympic sport and particularly the athletics, Louise Sauvage, she was the one who decided to get me wheelchair racing and, she had some great words of wisdom because she was very experienced at the time.

And I think it's just, young people do look to others who've had more experience and just finding ways to 'calm the farm' if you like and just to get to concentrate on the process rather than try and focus on a result because if you get your process right, the result will come.

So yeah, I think having mentors in teams whether they're 21 like Jaydon or whether they're much older like myself, yeah, I think that's really important for athletes coming through.

Tim Gavel: I don't know whether it's anecdotal, but I did read somewhere that young people with a disability look to athletes, para-athletes, more favourably than they would do to able-bodied athletes. They think 'Well, there's somebody that's got the same disability that I have and they're out there doing something fantastic on the world stage.' Do you think that's a fair comment? Because they are looking and searching for somebody like you.

Richard Nicholson PLY: I think that sometimes you can't be what you can't see. There's a sort of a quote in that sort of space and when people, particularly younger people with disability, they can often feel pretty vulnerable, a little insecure and if they're getting bullied that's only heightened, but if they see someone who looks like them on television competing against the world best, then that gives them, sort of 'Well my life doesn't have to be this way. I can do whatever I want to do. I could be just like that.'

So, I think it's really important.

Tim Gavel: Is that the case for you, Jaydon? Do you think you really look at Paralympic athletes doing really well and think, well, that's where I'd like to be?

Jaydon Page PLY: Well, yeah. Like, going back to what I was saying before as well, like, as I was entering into the para scene I wanted to get an understanding. Who am I racing? Who's going to be my idol? Who's going to be my next person I get to look up to? And if I start making teams, how do I gain any type of, how can I be a sponge? Basically, how can I be a sponge?

And I think the first race I ever saw was Scott Reardon in 2012, watched his race and then I started going to Chad Perris and I was looking at Evan and scanning so much information of how they run and how they present themselves and I started at the training camps or when I was with Iryna, I would have James Turner, Vanessa Low, Scott Reardon and Evan O'Hanlon all in the same training space as myself and I just, would kind of sit back and just listen to how they talk and how they get themselves ready. It was almost I was watching an able body, like an Olympian. They're so professional, and that was really handy for myself to have that, to have the maturity and the experience in that scene.

Richard Nicholson PLY: You just learn through osmosis, don't you? Just being there, you pick up things that just become part of your process that you wouldn't have picked up if you weren't in that situation but they become part of your process and that's your natural thing that you do and it helps you so much, further down the track.

Jaydon Page PLY: That couldn't be any more real. Like exactly what I've gone through. Like I would watch, give an example, from the people I've roomed with, Chad, Perris and Evan, I would watch them how they even operate in their hotel rooms or how they just make themselves feel nice and relaxed and comfortable with their environment, has really helped me. Just those little things have been so much bigger than anything you could put on the track. It's been, yeah.

Tim Gavel: And now you've got young people looking to you, watching how you eat and sleep and prepare. (laughing)

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. How does that feel with you to be that role model?

Jaydon Page PLY: Well, it's exactly what we just went through in Brisbane. The little fella that I was rooming with in Brisbane apparently idolises me and I'm thinking I'm 21 years of age, I'm not a role model yet, so.

Tim Gavel: (laughter)

Jaydon Page PLY: And I could see him, every once in a while, he'd look over into the corner of where we were sleeping and he'd just see what I'm doing, how I'm organising myself and race day rituals even though I don't have a ritual, kind of just how I sign myself up.

Yeah, it's a really nice feeling knowing that whatever I'm doing, it doesn't matter if I'm walking to the bus or if I'm eating or if I'm about to set an alarm to go to sleep, they're analysing something, and that's kind of nice. It's a nice feeling.

Tim Gavel: Yeah. That's great. Rich, just as a final question, advice for young athletes going across to their first Commonwealth Games, para-athletes in particular, what advice would you give them?

Richard Nicholson PLY: Just enjoy the experience because it is a, every Games is a one-off, every Games is different and just enjoy it. Try not to get too distracted, stay focused on what you're there for but at the end of the day, it's just sport so enjoy it.

Tim Gavel: Jaydon, is that the approach you're going to take, just to get across there and enjoy it?

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah. That was kind of, what Scott Reedon said to me when I was about to make my debut in 2021. He said to me 'Mate, you're 16. No one here expects you to win a medal. No one expects you to break a world record. Everyone just expects you to do your job. Just go out there and race and you're here for a reason. It's because you used to enjoy running, in the backyard or running on the school oval or running in athletics and now you're here and it's basically the exact same job.’

Tim Gavel: That's great.

Jaydon Page PLY: Yeah.

Tim Gavel: Thanks very much, Jaydon and Richo, for coming in today and sharing your experience, Richo. And Jaydon, all the best in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Jaydon Page PLY: Thank you so much.

Tim Gavel: Really looking forward to watching you race in the T47 100 metres. And Richo, great to have you back in the SIA offices –

Richard Nicholson PLY: (laughter) Thanks Tim.

Tim Gavel: – after one of the mainstays here for so many years. Today's conversation is a reminder that success in sport isn't measured only by performance and medals, also built on the foundations of respect, fairness and inclusion, values that help every athlete reach their potential. It's these values that will be on display in the pursuit of sporting excellence in Glasgow.

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for our next episode in this Commonwealth Games series From Clean to Gold: The Road to Glasgow 2026.