'You never think it's gonna be you': Madison de Rozario never dreamed she'd snag this role at the Paralympics

If someone told 14-year-old Madison de Rozario that one day she'd carry the Australian flag at the Paralympics, she wouldn't have believed it. 

She could barely believe it at age 30, with six Paralympic medals to her name.

"No matter what you've done, you never think it's gonna be you," De Rozario tells 9honey. 

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"You always think there's someone more worthy, someone that just deserves it a little bit more. It's such a privilege."

The wheelchair racer only learned she'd been chosen a few hours before the rest of the world, when Australian Team Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin surprised her at the gym and named her a flag bearer.

There had been clues in the leadup, but De Rozario didn't suspect such a massive honour.

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"I was wondering why my team was acting so f--king weird all week," she laughs now, but it's an honour she takes incredibly seriously.

It's a full-circle moment for De Rozario, who made her Paralympic debut in Beijing at age 14, two years after former coach Frank Ponta introduced her to wheelchair racing.

Back in 2008, when she first rolled onto the world stage, Para-athletes were still fighting for the recognition and accolades showered upon their able-bodied Olympic counterparts.

Things have changed a lot in the last 16 years and athletes like De Rozario are more prolific than ever, commanding huge online followings and landing major sponsorship deals.

And that means even more eyes on The Paralympics this year.

"We're seeing an enormous shift in that space at the moment, which is so exciting," De Rozario says, adding that the interest in individual Para-athletes is hugely encouraging.

"There's far more household names than we've ever had before … which makes it so much easier for someone like me to find the motivation to further the movement, because I can see that it's working."

There's also been a huge shift in public attitudes towards womens' sport in recent years, especially after the 'Matilda effect' swept Australia in 2023.

Now, more than ever, female athletes are being championed and empowered and women like De Rozaro are feeling the positive effects.

"I love it, because I think engaging with women's sport fans is the growth of the sport," she says.

"There is this desire to know about the lives of the athletes, we care about what they care about … we want to know who they are as women and as people."

Fans are also getting behind the causes their favourite female athletes care about, be it Mackenzie Arnold promoting hearing health, or De Rozario working with Cadbury on its Give a Cheer and a Half to Volunteers campaign.

Seeing fans get behind female athletes and the causes close to their hearts in such a big way is thrilling, because it's proof these women are finally being taken seriously.

But fame has always been a double edged sword and that's painfully true for women in the spotlight.

De Rozario is wary of the intense interest in female athletes' private lives and the added scrutiny that comes with being a woman with a public profile.

Because for so many sportswomen, having a platform also means becoming a target; a target for online harassment, a target for misogynist attacks, and in De Rozario's case, a target for ableism.

But the 30-year-old is willing to take the bad with the good if it means she and athletes like her aren't just being ignored, as used to be the case.

"Previously there was just no interest," she explains, "that's just the nature of women's sport."

Not anymore. Today, fans flock from all around the world to see women compete and there was an incredible turnout for women's sport at the Olympics - a turnout De Rozario is hoping to see replicated at the Paralympics.

As a kid, she never dreamed she'd represent Australia at the Paralympics at all. 

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Now she's gearing up for her fifth games, what would she say to the 14-year-old version of herself who competed in Beijing?

"Part of me would [want to] ignore her, and let her make every mistake she's going to make," De Rozario says. 

"Because there's going to be so many, but they're all going to lead her here. And here is a good place."

If pushed, the only thing she'd tell her younger self is that success often looks like failure, but even when you're failing, it's worth being proud of.

"I have lost more races than I won by a f--king landslide," she laughs, "success isn't a straight line."

There's a lot of pressure on her going into Paris 2024; pressure to defend her title, to beat her own records, to make Australia proud, and bring home gold.

It's scary and overwhelming and a lot to face up to, but it's exactly where she always wanted to be and that's enough for De Rozario.

"This 30-year-old woman is someone 14-year-old me would be very, very proud of."

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