Vanuatu para-athletes travel to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra to help realise Paris Paralympics dreams

Para-athletics coach Florence Nango is from Tanna in Vanuatu. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Florence Nango usually coaches her team of para-athletes among picturesque beaches and an active volcano.

But her group has travelled to Canberra — around 7,000 kilometres from Tanna, their remote Vanuatu island home — and 17,000 kilometres away from their goal: 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

“It’s their first time in Canberra, or in Australia … They are very, very excited to come here,” Ms Nango said.

“I coach every Thursday and Tuesday. We did a lot of training before we came to Port Vila, then here.”

Ms Nango and her aspiring Paralympians took a boat from Tanna to their nation’s capital, Port Vila, where they boarded a flight to Brisbane before jetting to Canberra.

The trip was lengthy but crucial to progressing their para-athletics careers.

‘Very rare’ classification opportunities

The para-athletes have a range of disabilities and are in Canberra to receive para-classifications through a medical examination at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

The classification determines which athletes can compete in a sport and puts athletes with similar impairments into groups to allow for fair competition.

The mandatory process is volunteer-led.

Oceania Paralympic Committee (OPC) president, Paul Bird, said the limited opportunity to gain classification was frustrating.

“In Australia, for example, in athletics, the only international classification opportunity is once a year,” Mr Bird said.

“They are very rare, particularly in the southern hemisphere. So, we’ve targeted this [round of classifications] as the only opportunity they will have to have any chance of being in Paris.”

‘An expensive process’

For decades, the OPC has run talent identification programs in Pacific countries including Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa.

With funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s PacificAus Sports program, the athletes get classified in Australia, before they can compete.

But Mr Bird said that did not alleviate all financial pressures.

“A typical classification opportunity could cost us [up to] $40,000 just to bring them in and go through that process. So, it’s an expensive process,” Mr Bird said.

“We are bringing three athletes from Kiribati to be in Brisbane next week. The return airfare alone is $3,500.”

‘A life changing moment’

Ms Nango said the para-athletes she coaches have become more respected on their island home as a result of their training and competing.

“Back home, we go to each community to tell them that [people with a disability] are important people, and not to make them [feel] shame,” Ms Nango said.

“I’m really, really, really proud of them. Because people back home, they just think they’re nothing.

“Now, they’re happy to join the other para-athletes and they can do it.”

The program to help Pacific para-athletes gain classifications has run for around 20 years — and Mr Bird said he has seen the impact firsthand.

“It’s not just about the medals and the performance, it’s more about what we can do around those communities, around inclusion,” Mr Bird said.

“To be recognised, to step forward, and all of a sudden, they’re representing their island, Tanna, and their country, Vanuatu on an international stage … It’s a life changing moment.”

“It’s really making those communities think that every one of them, particularly these athletes, they’re valuable members of their community,” he said.