Australia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics

Australia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	AUS
NPC	Australian Paralympic Committee
Website	www.paralympic.org.au
in Athens
Competitors	151
Flag bearer	Louise Sauvage (Opening) Matthew Cowdrey (Closing)
Medals Ranked 5th	Gold 26 Silver 39 Bronze 36 Total 101
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes (91 men and 60 women).^[1] Australian competitors won 101 medals (26 gold, 39 silver and 36 bronze) to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table.^[2] Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird.^[3] The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal^[4] and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities.^[5] The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.