Watching the opening ceremony of the Sydney Paralympics at the age of three, Tom O’Neill-Thorne knew he wanted to make it there one day himself.
“One of the athletes was in a wheelchair and he got out and he started doing a handstand … he started handstand walking around the track,” he says.
O’Neill-Thorne was born with arthrogryposis, a pre-birth condition that prevented growth of his hips, knees and ankles.
Now a professional wheelchair basketballer who won a world cup with Australia at 17 and represented the country at two paralympic games, he believes that moment broadcast from Sydney has resonated throughout his life.
“It connects with me, especially at that time where that was what I did: I would get out of my chair and I didn’t really let my chair dictate where I go,” he says.
Seeking opportunities and exploring his talent on his own terms, O’Neill-Thorne forged ahead with his dream of becoming a champion.
‘You’ve got to find a way’
O’Neill-Thorne was born in Nhulunbuy in north-east Arnhem Land, and has been on the move since he was a child.
His arthrogryposis diagnosis meant that up until the age of three he would often fly south for different surgeries.
“I guess from a young age I’ve kind of had to leave home to try and get better,” he says.
That’s what happened on his way to becoming an elite athlete.
“I left [the territory] and I got to that next level and it was like, oh, you need to leave Australia to be a professional’,” he says.
Now O’Neill-Thorne lives between Darwin and Madrid, but it was in his hometown around family, friends and the beauty of Arnhem Land, that he discovered he could compete and thrive.
“I think living in Nhulunbuy, a place where you’ve got those opportunities to explore nature and explore everything,” he says.
“I think I was the only disabled person in the town that I remember.
“All my mates were running around and everything that we did, it was kind of like hey, Tom, we’re going to go into the sandpit and swing on the monkey bars, and you’ve got to find a way to climb up to the top and do it.”
And do it he would.
“I think that inclusion translated into sport, especially when we moved to Darwin and I was in that age of organised sport with kids,” he says.
“Instead of my parents saying, no, we can’t do that, it was yep, sure, how can we find a way for you to play soccer?”
To those kind of questions Tom always had an answer. On the soccer pitch, he would be the goalie.
“I would leave my chair at the edge of one the goals and jump off and be on the ground, and be darting across and trying to stop the ball,” he says.
Path to becoming a champion
O’Neill-Thorne knew he wanted to compete, but it wasn’t until watching an international tournament in the Top End tropics that he decided on basketball.
“The national team came up for the Arafura Games, and that was the first time I really saw a wheelchair basketball match,” he said.
“It was a bit crazy, a bit hectic, and there was a lot of crashing and a lot of banging, but as a 10-year-old you love that intensity and you love the passion and the fire.”
From there, O’Neill-Thorne says the ultimate goal was to pull on an Australian jersey.
That connection to home made a recent chapter in O’Neill-Thorne’s sporting career particularly special.
He, along with his friend Clarence ‘CJ’ McCarthy-Grogan helped bring the National Wheelchair Basketball League to Darwin.
In 2022, the Darwin Salties joined the National Wheelchair Basketball League at the same time the Salties joined the national competition with an able-bodied team.
“It’s all about showing [kids] they’ve got options, whereas we didn’t have that luxury of being able to play for a team in our own backyard here in Darwin,” McCarthy-Grogan says.
This year, the two mates were lifting the trophy as league champions.
It was a victory he could celebrate in a place he had to leave but made him who he is.
“I think having that mindset of anything is possible and not letting any barriers stop you is part of Darwin,” he says.
“Everybody from Darwin is the same, in that it holds a pretty special place in our heart.”
Home, after all, is where he learnt some big lessons that one night glued to the opening ceremony broadcast as a three-year-old.
“I thought, yeah, I can do that [a handstand], and I tried and straight away fell over and got carpet burn,” he says.
“I tried, and I think that’s been my motto for everything in life. At least give it a go.”
