Ellie Cole

Ellie Victoria Cole, AM (born 12 December 1991) is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships.

Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.