Nominees for prestigious Academy athlete of the year award announced

Five outstanding Queensland athletes have been nominated for the 2016 Peter Lacey Award for Sporting Excellence.

The five award finalists are Paralympian Lakeisha Patterson (swimming), Olympian Emma McKeon (swimming), Olympian Charlotte Caslick (rugby sevens), Paralympian Curtis McGrath (canoeing) and Paralympian Brenden Hall (swimming).

Treasurer and Minister for Sport Curtis Pitt said the award winner would be announced on 8 December at the 2016 Annual Queensland Sport (QSport) Awards.

“The Peter Lacey award is the highest honour bestowed on any athlete associated with the Queensland Academy of Sport, which makes it fit for inclusion in the state’s leading awards ceremony,” Mr Pitt said.

“Each year the QAS Board has the privilege of identifying potential award nominees who have not only excelled internationally, but who have paired that success with being strong ambassadors for their chosen sport.

“This year the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games provided some outstanding performances from Queensland’s athletes, making the final selection of nominees a difficult task for the QAS Board.

“The final five nominees for this year’s award have been selected because of their performances at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and throughout 2016, combined with the way they have conducted themselves before, during and after Rio.

“Each of these athletes exceeded expectations, and even more impressively, four out of the five nominees made their Olympic and Paralympic debut in 2016, with Brenden Hall a relative veteran making Rio his third Paralympic Games.”

Peter Lacey was one of the founding fathers of the QAS and a legend in the sport of Surf Lifesaving. Peter Lacey’s outstanding achievements include world, national and state masters records in swimming, along with being named the equal greatest Australian surf lifesaving competitor.

Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) Executive Director Bennett King said the athletes who had received this award in the past had been of the highest caliber.

“The inaugural award was presented to none other than ‘Madame Butterfly’ herself, Susie O’Neill,” Mr King said.

“Since then, some of the state’s most successful elite athletes have been recipients, including Kieren Perkins, Leisel Jones, Emma Snowsill, Jamie Dwyer and Sally Pearson – with our most recent winner being Cate Campbell in 2015.”

The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) has been acknowledging the performances of its athletes by presenting the Peter Lacey Award for Sporting Excellence annually since 1998.

Contact:  0419 945 546