A 26-year-old from Logan City, Queensland, is preparing to represent Australia in Türkiye as the only green and gold competitor at the world’s biggest tournament for athletes with Down syndrome.
Andre Rivett, nicknamed “The Hulk” by Olympian Matt Denny, will go for gold at the Trisome Games in March, competing in the events of javelin, shot-put, and discus.
Andre has been training in these events since 2014 and was the first person with Down syndrome to ever represent Australia in any athletics competition.
“We strongly believe that if it hadn’t been for athletics, Andre wouldn’t be the person he is right now,” shared Steve Rivett, the father of The Hulk.
Steve shared how ever since Andre got into athletics and training his son has “grown so much”.
“He’s just learned everything and it’s just helped him, in real life, to the extent now where he’s working at a cafe and he’s able to function around the community,” Steve said to the ABC.
Much like the Olympics and Paralympics, the Trisome Games are held every four years, where athletes with Down syndrome from around the globe come to participate at the highest level in their chosen sports.
Currently, athletes with Down syndrome do not have the opportunity to enter the Paralympics, which Andre and his team hope will change in the future.
“Hopefully in the near future, and possibly even by Brisbane 2032, we do have Down syndrome represented at the Games in some form and then hopefully it can grow from there,” said Brett Green, Andre’s coach.
Andre is a favourite to win in his selected events, particularly discus, where he holds a special achievement for being the only athlete with Down syndrome in the world who utilises a full 360-degree turn as part of his form.
As Green said it’s “not about what their disability is, it’s about what their ability is” when it comes to training.
“So we need to work out what they can do, not what they can’t do,” Green said, per the publication.
Even though the Trisome Games are competitive and Andre will be going for gold, the spirit of the games is that other athletes learn from and lift each other up.
As his coach shared, some of Andre’s competitors may even try and page a leaf from “The Hulk’s” book.
“There may be others that come out with the skill because they’ve been watching Andre, and they’ve been trying to copy it as well,” said Green.
The Trisome Games will go from March 19 to March 26, and will be held in Antalya, Türkiye.
[Image: Oceana Athletics.]