Holy Family Primary School’s Victoria Simpson has made history at the Primary Schools Sports Association (PSSA) National Athletics Carnival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In what came as a nice surprise, the Year 5 student placed third in the 11 years girls AWD shot put at the titles that were held at Homebush, Sydney between November 25-29.
Victoria claimed the bronze medal behind a girl from Victoria who won gold and a South Australian competitor who took silver.
But it was the presentation during the closing ceremony that left Victoria – and her family – the most in shock.
Victoria had created two new Australian records in shot put and in discus after being the first in her classification (F55) to compete.
Victoria threw a personal best 3.44 metres in shot put to set the record and 6.21 metres in discus to make it two for two.
And to top off a great five days of competition, Victoria was also a member of the NSW relay shot put team of girls aged between 10 to 12 years.
“I was surprised [to come third],” Victoria said.
“Discus is usually my main event but a girl with cerebral palsy threw 19 something metres.”
But she was excited to report it was her first national medal and that it felt pretty “awesome” accepting the medal at the podium.
In fact the whole moment was so exciting, mum Deanne Simpson, could be heard cheering on her all-rounder athlete daughter.
Victoria said she had an inkling she had set a record in shot put because of her medal.
“But I didn’t know for the discus...that was shocking,” she said.
As part of the event all NSW athletes were given a hat that had seven NSW badges.
The goal was to swap the badges with athletes from other states over the five days, while mingling at the same time.
“I have a badge from every state – I have South Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and I kept one from NSW,” Victoria said.
Victoria returned home last week to some very excited friends and school teachers, and was very happy telling everyone about her experience.
“I’m definitely proud,” Victoria said.