Born Subiaco WA
6 September 1944 – 26 November 2005
At the age of 13, Lorraine McCoulough-Fry was stricken by transverse myelitis, which resulted in immediate paralysis. Since that day in 1958 she has been a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair.
Her plight only served to stimulate young McCoulough-Fry’s interest in sports and this was assisted by daily exercise in archery and swimming at the Shenton Park Rehabilitation annexe of Royal Perth Hospital.
Within three months the young McCoulough-Fry was involved in competition and so began a career which was to set National standards in the burgeoning area of sport for the disabled.
McCoulough-Fry began competing in Archery and Table Tennis, but when she later became the first female Western Australian disable athlete to represent Australia, she added events in Swimming and Track and Field.
She was just 18 years old when she won seven gold and two silver medals at the 1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Perth. Two of the gold medals in Swimming were won in world record time.
Health problems caused McCoulough-Fry to miss the 1964 Paralympics in Japan. But she was back in action two years later for the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Jamaica, where she collected six more gold medals.
At the 1968 Paralympics in Israel McCoulough-Fry added three gold, a silver and a bronze. Her three gold medals in the pool came at world record pace.
McCoulough-Fry was chosen for the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Scotland, but was withdrawn because of injury, ending a remarkable career which produced three Paralympic gold medals and 13 more at Commonwealth Paraplegic Games.