ATHLETICS: Warwick long jumper and world championship gold medallist Carlee Beattie is an almost certain selection in the Australian team for this year’s Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro on September 7-18.

Beattie starred in hockey and netball in Warwick before starting athletics serously in 2005.

Now 33, she is the world record holder in the F46 long jump with 6.01m and the current International Paralympic Committee gold medallist in the long jump after winning her first international gold medal last year.

In the London Paralympics, Beattie won silver in long jump. She has also competed in sprints but her major emphasis is on the long jump.

She has a Paralympics A qualifier in long jump and a best of 5.84m this season so it is only a formality that she will be selected in the Australian team for the Paralympics.

Beattie also mixes it with the best in able bodied athletics finishing fourth with the 5.84m jump in the state championships.

As for her chances of a medal in Rio, Beattie said her main aim was to do her best.

“It would be nice to have a Paralympic gold medal,” she said.

In the past decade, Beattie has won four world championship medals in long jump, one gold, two silver and one bronze as well as a bronze medal in the 100m.

Her next major competition will be the nationals at the end of March and early April in Sydney.

Both Beattie and Allora throwing star and Olympic hopeful Matthew Denny will be at the nationals.

“I see Matthew in the gym now and then and we have a chat when we are at the same competitions,” Beattie said.

Denny is two metres off an Olympic qualifier in discus so the odds are the Southern Downs could have a special interest in the athletics program at both the Olympics in August and the Paralympics in September this year.

Australia won 32 gold, 23 silver and 30 bronze medals in London in 2012 and Beattie will be one of our best chances for a medal in Rio.

The team will be led by Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin who will become the first woman to lead an Australian team at the Paralympic Games.

On Saturday, funds were raised to support the team through the Weekend Sunrise Parathon. One of the noted sportsmen pushing the Parathon to help the Paralympians was former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh.