Alexa Leary

Alexa Leary shouldn’t be alive. The budding triathlete suffered a life-threatening cycling accident while training on the Sunshine Coast in 2021. The 22-year-old clipped the bike in front of her at 75km/h, sending her into the air, landing on her head. After two weeks in ICU at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital her family were told to say their final goodbye. But Alexa had other plans. When her life support was turned off, Alexa began breathing by herself for the first time since her accident. It was just the beginning of Alexa’s stubborn determination to rebuild her life and go on to represent Australia at the Paralympics.

About Alexa Leary

• “I’m living my second life and I’m loving it.”

  After cheating death three years ago, Alexa Leary is defying the odds to prepare for her first Paralympic Games in Paris. It’s a stark contrast from the months she spent in hospital unable to even remember her own name.

  “I had to restart a whole new life. I didn’t have my licence. I had no hair. I didn’t have much at all,” explains Leary

  The S9 Freestyle swimmer was told by doctors she wouldn’t walk again after her accident.

  “I proved them wrong. I am walking now!”

  After spending five months in hospital and three months in a brain home, Alexa’s doctors suggested she started swimming again to help rehabilitate the right side of her body.

  “In triathlon, my best leg was the swim.”

  Returning to the water helped Alexa do more than just rehab. It inspired a goal to become a Paralympian.

  “When I want something, I’m not going to let it go.”

  The 22-year-old attended a swimming development camp on the Gold Coast where she saw swim coach Jon Bell at work.

  “I had just gotten out of hospital and I wanted to go further. I was looking around and I could just see Jon in the corner of my eye. He was talking to people, and I just walked up to him and asked ‘who do you train?’ I asked him all these questions, and I was like ‘I want to train with you,’” says Leary.

  It was an offer Jon couldn’t refuse.

  “What I love is the grit and determination Lex has to overcome any obstacle. If she wants something, she works out how she’s going to get it, and then she makes it happen. It’s rare that you find that in an athlete,” says Bell.

  What makes this story even more remarkable is that Jon travels interstate to train Alexa on the Gold Coast.

• At times the coaching journey has worked both ways. While Alexa has learned how to use her body again, Jon has needed to learn new ways of coaching to accommodate for Alexa’s recovery journey.

  “With Lex’s traumatic brain injury, her learning is different than everyone. So the Lex we had two years ago is very different to the Lex now. We had to allow for cognitive development as well as physical training,” says Bell.

  “I’ve tried to think outside the box. Lean on my team. Lean on the support staff. Lean on Lex, see what works for her, and listen.”

  A key part of that support team has been Queensland Academy of Sport Senior performance Scientist, Simon Pearson.

  “My main role with the team is around movement analysis. So refining Lex’s movements at the start, her turns, and stroke technique. I also work with Jon around race planning and race modelling. Getting her hips higher in the water and in a better position to drive off,” explains Pearson.

  Members of Alexa’s support team carry unique nicknames. “Lex uniquely calls Simon ‘science’ because that’s his role within our team,” explains Bell.

  “Without him, we wouldn’t have travelled to this point in our journey so far. I rely on him heavily for his technical expertise. And what he brings to our team is that extra ten per cent that we need to achieve Lex’s goal,” says coach Bell.

  It’s a tightknit working partnership that Alexa is more than proud of.

  “It’s not just me when I go to the Paralympics. We are going to bring something special home together. We are going to do it. We are a team,” exclaims Leary.

  But make no mistake. Alexa is not competing just to write an inspiring story of overcoming the odds.

  “I’m a weapon. I know I always aim for my best, but having (Jon and Simon’s) support builds me up even more.”