Dylan Martin Alcott AO

Not many athletes can lay claim to a Paralympic gold medal and a world championship before their 20th birthday. Then again, there aren’t many athletes like Dylan Alcott. Having only started playing basketball in 2003, Dylan first represented Australia at the 2006 Junior Nationals, where he was named the “most valuable player.”

Following the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, which, for Dylan, were “the best experience of his life”, he felt lucky and privileged as a 17-year-old to have been part of a world-beating basketball team that won the gold medal, all while undertaking his Year 12 studies at BGS.

In 2010, at 19 years old, Dylan achieved another rare feat as part of the Australian wheelchair basketball team that secured the World Championship.

Dylan received a scholarship to attend the University of Illinois in the USA to train and compete in the university’s extensive wheelchair basketball team program. He attended the University of Illinois for a year, but returned to Melbourne to study Commerce and prepare for the 2012 London Games. In 2012, Dylan was a key member of the silver medal-winning team at the London Paralympic Games.

Not only is Dylan an international basketballer, but he is also an accomplished tennis player, having played in 30 countries and reaching as high as number six in the junior world rankings. One of his proudest moments was winning three silvers at the Tennis World Team Cup. His tennis exploits saw him achieve more Olympic medals, winning gold in both singles and doubles at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and following that up with singles gold and doubles silver at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. In tournament tennis, Dylan amassed an amazing 15 singles and 8 doubles titles in the majors, including the calendar Grand Slam in 2021.

As well as Dylan’s great sporting talent, he is the founder of the Dylan Alcott Foundation, “with the core purpose of helping young Australians with disabilities gain self-esteem and respect through sport and study.” Dylan also founded Ability Fest, a universally accessible music festival. In recognition of his achievements in sport and promoting inclusion, Dylan was named the 2022 Australian of the Year.