Madeleine McTernan
Madeleine “Maddie” McTernan (born 29 December 2000) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who has an intellectual disability. She competes in the S14 classification and represents Australia in international events.
She was born in Nambour, Queensland, and grew up in Coffs Harbour. In Woolgoolga, New South Wales, she attended St Francis Xavier School, then moved to the Gold Coast to study at Aquinas College, Southport. McTernan started swimming as a child and won her first medal in 2013. She was coached by Eugene Brogmus in Coffs Harbour and later swam with St Hilda’s Swim Club on the Gold Coast.
Her international career began to rise in 2019 at the World Para Swimming Championships in London, with strong showings in backstroke, medley, and freestyle. She also won multiple medals at the 2019 Brisbane INAS Global Games.
In 2020 McTernan earned her first individual international gold at the World Para Swimming Series in Melbourne and set a world record at the Australian Virtual Short Course Championships in the 400 m freestyle multi-class event. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, she won a silver medal in the Mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle S14 relay and finished fourth in the 100 m backstroke S14 final.
At the 2022 Madeira World Para Swimming Championships, she won two silver medals in mixed relays and placed in the finals of several individual events. She also finished fifth in the women’s 200 m freestyle S14 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham that year. In 2023, at the World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester, she won gold in the Mixed 4 × 100 m Medley Relay and silver in the Mixed 4 × 100 m Freestyle S14, with other top-10 finishes in individual events.
In the 2024 Paris Paralympics, McTernan won a silver medal in the Mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle S14 and placed fifth in both the women’s 200 m freestyle S14 and the women’s 100 m backstroke S14.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:21 (CET).