Daniel Michel

Daniel Michel

Date of birth: August, 1995

Disciplines: Individual

Classification: BC3

Past Paralympic Games: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020

Impairment: Physical Impairment - spinal muscular atrophy - Type 2

How acquired: Congenital

Residence: Cronulla, NSW

Occupation: Athlete

Started competing: 2011

First competed for Australia: 2013

Sport career highlight: Winning the individual bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and winning the World Championships in individuals and pairs last year.

Role model: His mum.

Daniel Michel’s love affair with the sport of boccia began the day he rolled his first ball down a ramp as a 15-year-old kid at a Muscular Dystrophy New South Wales camp. Dan had never before seen a sport that he could play and was hooked immediately.

Since then, Dan has gone on to represent Australia on more than 25 occasions, including at two Paralympic Games, in a career that has spanned a decade.

One of the highlights of Dan’s career so far was winning the individual bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, becoming the first Australian to win a Paralympic medal in boccia since 1996.

On top of this, Dan recently won both the individual and pairs gold medals at the 2022 Boccia World Championships and was ranked number one in the world in both categories.

Dan hopes to represent Australia once again at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, with the help of his ramp assistant Ash McClure, and aims to win Australia’s first ever gold medal for boccia.