Maddi Elliott became the third person in five decades to claim back-to-back Maitland Sportsperson of the Year awards after being announced as the winner in the event’s 50th anniversary.
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The 15-year-old from Gillieston Heights successfully defended her title in 2013 on the back of two world championship gold medals, a world record, an Australian Sports Hall of Fame scholarship, an NSWIS award and receiving an OAM.
But she wasn’t the only swimmer to grace the Maitland Town Hall stage at Friday
night’s awards ceremony, with Aberglasslyn teenager Matthew Pender taking home the junior gong.
And while this was Pender’s first foray into the Maitland Sportsperson of the Year awards ,Elliott has become somewhat of a regular.
Her connection to the awards began in 2009 and the following year she scored the encouragement award before clinching the junior title in 2011.
The cerebral palsy sufferer was then elevated to the open section after taking the world by storm at the 2012 Paralympics in London, becoming Australia’s youngest medallist at the Games.
Elliott backed up that stellar season in 2013 and joins Christian Adams (1993, 1994) and Brian Burke (1971, 1972) in taking out the city’s highest individual sporting honour on consecutive occasions.
Only John Callaghan (1967, 1970) and Terry Pannowitz (1966, 1968) have also won the prize twice since the awards’ inception in 1963.
Elliott was overwhelmed to join such illustrious sporting company and said it was an unexpected prize to win such a prestigious award two years in a row.
“To win back-to-back sportsperson of the year awards felt really amazing,” Elliott said.
“I wasn’t expecting that.”
It has been a meteoric rise for Elliott and last year her star shone as brightly as ever.
On the back of four Paralympic medals Elliott was Maitland’s Australia Day ambassador for 2013 and had a lane at Maitland Pool named in her honour.
She then won gold medals in the women’s S8 50 and 100 metre freestyle events at the IPC World Championships in Canada in August, beating experienced US Paralympic champion Jessica Long in the process, as well as a silver medal in the 400m final.
Following this, Elliott received one of five Australia Sport Hall of Fame scholarships, which paired her with seven-time world surfing champion Layne Beachley.
And to top it all off, after picking up the NSW Institute of Sport regional athlete of the year award in November, Elliott was bestowed with an Order of Australia medal.
“It was a terrific year for me,” she said.
Elliott will turn her attention to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she hopes to swim in the 100m freestyle for Australia, and the Paralympic Pan-Pacific team travelling to California shortly after.
Beyond that Elliott has her heart set on the next four Paralympic Games, including Rio in 2016.
