[Archive 2013-01-04] Wikinews interviews Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Shelley Chaplin

Historical archive — originally published 2013-01-04. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Recently, Wikinews spent time with with Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Shelley Chaplin.

((WN)) Right. And whenever I go to see the basketball in Canberra, we pass by a glass case. In the case is a guernsey with number twelve on it, and a big sign that says that this was the guernsey worn by Shelley Chaplin...

((WN)) It's signed by the rest of the team, if you look — press your nose to the glass and look really close. How did that come to be there?

Shelley Chaplin: It's actually the singlet that I wore in Beijing. Usually you get people to sign stuff. Anyway, the AIS just asked everybody if we would donate something [...]. I wasn't using it so, yeah, I gave them that.

Shelley Chaplin: I don't think they have it... It's been there for a while now. It think that was a four year loan or something like that.

Shelley Chaplin: It's been there for longer than that. Or — it must be four years around about now. Went in just after Beijing.

Shelley Chaplin: They'll return it at some point. I mean, I like it. It's nice to have it there. It's good that they have some stuff from wheelchair basketball there, and I don't need it, so, yeah.

Shelley Chaplin: After the Atlanta Paralympics actually. There was a welcome home parade in Melbourne. So I never knew anything about wheelchair sports before that. And I went to the parade, and I used to walk around, but that day I used a wheelchair because I was really tired, and someone just approached me and said "Hey, do you know anything about wheelchair sports? You should get involved!" And, yeah, so I did! I tried everything, and I liked basketball the most.

((WN)) I'd never seen the game before. My first experience of it was when the Gliders came out on the court for that first game [in London], and I was really taken with the sport from the word go. It has a sort of grace that normal basketball lacks. But otherwise it's very similar.

Shelley Chaplin: Yeah! I think people are often quite surprised by wheelchair basketball, what it is when they actually see it. I think the name "wheelchair" basketball means disability obviously, but when you watch it there's nothing about disability to it at all. Just that we use wheelchairs, and that's it. It's just another sport.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Wikinews interviews Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Shelley Chaplin by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.