Heath Wesley Francis, OAM (born 16 November 1981 in Newcastle, New South Wales is an Australian athlete who has participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics. His right arm was amputated at the age of seven as a result of a mincing accident on his family farm in Booral, New South Wales.
Action shot of Francis during his gold medal run in the 400 m T46 at the 2000 Summer Paralympic's
Francis shown wrapped in the Australian flag and holding his gold medal won in the Men's 4 x 100 m T46 relay at the 2000 Summer Paralympic Games
Francis at the end of the 400m at the 2008 Beijing Games
The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organizing Committees. In this edition, a record 3,801 athletes from 120 National Paralympic Committees participated in 551 events in 18 sports, and until the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, it was the second largest sporting event ever until that date held in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. Sydney was the eighth city to host the Olympics and the Paralympics on same venues at the same year, and the first since Barcelona 1992 that they were organized in complete conjunction with the Olympics. They were also the first Paralympic Games outside the Northern Hemisphere and also in Oceania.
Then-president of the Australian Paralympic Federation, Ron Finneran, during the 1984 Winter Paralympics, held in Innsbruck, Austria
Daytime view of pond with waterlilies at Sydney Olympic Park during the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games
Yothu Yindi performs at the Sydney opening ceremony.
The Australian team at the opening ceremony