Mighty Blues to head Australian Swimming Team at Virtus Oceania Games 2022

A milestone event in Virtus history, the Virtus Oceania Asia Games 2022, mark the first time Virtus Regional Games will be hosted in the Oceania Asia region, with hundreds of athletes from more than 25 nations set to attend.

The Virtus Oceania Asia Games 2022 (OA Games 2022) is an international multi-sport event in the Oceania Asia region for elite athletes with an intellectual impairment. The OA Games exist to offer an elite pathway for athletes with intellectual impairment to compete at the highest level.

41 athletes have been selected by Sport Inclusion Australia to represent Australia as part of the swim team - the largest selected to date. Almost half of the Australian team hail from NSW or the ACT, including Tokyo Paralympian Ricky Betar (Cruiz), London Paralympic Silver medallist Taylor Corry (Kincumber Pacific Dolphins), Commonwealth Games representative Jade Lucy (SLC Aquadot), and Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships gold medalist Lily Crawford (City of Sydney).

Sport Inclusion Australia (SIA) will also manage the delivery of the OA Games.

Competitors will call Brisbane home from 5-11 November with Games events taking place at various venues across the city. Swimming events will be held at Chandler Aquatic Centre in the frequented Sleeman Sports Complex. 

Swimming is one of three Paralympic sports that offers classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment at the Paralympics.

The recent introduction of the S18 (Down syndrome) and S19 (autism) classifications by Swimming Australia was significant for athletes with an intellectual impairment, providing more opportunities for meaningful advancement along the competitive pathway.

A world leader in Multi-Class inclusion in sport, Swimming Australia is the only sport national governing body in the country to recognise and include the S19 intellectual impairment classification.

Still, with no formal recognition of these classifications in place by World Para Swimming (operating under International Paralympic Committee guidelines), the high performance pathway for many swimmers with an intellectual impairment does not lead to the Paralympics, making the Virtus Games ever more important for these athletes to realise their dreams of elite success.

The Virtus Oceania Games will run from 5-11 November in Brisbane.

Australian Swimming Team (NSW and ACT representatives)