By Cam Lucadou-Wells
It’s been a Paralympics like no other.
And especially memorable for seven-time Paralympian Danni Di Toro.
The 46-year-old was given the rare honour of carrying the Australian flag with wheelchair rugby player Ryley Batt in the Tokyo Games opening ceremony on 24 August.
Eerily, they marched in front of a stadium emptied of spectators and many of the athletes due to the Covid pandemic.
Their teammates, who they’d normally lead into a cheering arena, were watching on from the Games Village.
The 46-year-old Di Toro felt a “proud, humbling and special” experience despite the vacuum.
“We had a moment before we marched … we thought of all of our team that worked so hard to get here to Tokyo and the 1044 Paralympians watching and supporting in spirit.”
Di Toro has forged a glittering career including a Paralympic silver and bronze medal in wheelchair tennis, as well as Grand Slam titles and 10 Australian Open trophies.
Her international career started just one year after she was crushed by a collapsed brick wall at a school swim carnival at Dandenong Oasis pool in 1988.
At just 13, she suffered paraplegia as a result.
Initially, all she got told were “the things I couldn’t do, what I couldn’t do again, what I would never experience and what I would have to relearn”.
“It’s pretty dehumanizing.
“It’s a strange place when things get taken from you but sport was a lovely way to experience what I can do, what I can get better at and what I feel I’ve got some control over.”
Sport helped her through rehab but most importantly introduced her to athletes that were her “kin” or “mob”.
“They’re a community of humans who have worked through their disability and living these incredibly meaningful lives.
“Sport provides me the greatest arena to meet myself. I love the challenges it brings. I love how it shows me some of the s****y stuff about me, some of the good stuff about me.
“It allows me to explore and grow. That’s what life is about.”
At incredibly her seventh Games at Tokyo, she has shifted into para-table tennis.
The squad was grateful to be there after the Games were postponed for a year. To keep safe, athletes are kept tight in a village bubble and strict pandemic protocols.
The 330 athletes dine together breakfast, lunch and dinner in their own “allotment”. Their only sights of Tokyo have been out of a bus window, with locals waving to them from the streets.
In the meantime, Ms Di Toro is pleased the Paralympians can give “a little bit of joy” to Aussies locked down at home.
“I feel it’s a lovely time to introduce the Australian public to our athletes.
“They’ve worked through a lot, they’re pretty agile human beings, they know how to adapt, they understand challenges, they bring incredible learning and incredible growth.”
