Paige Greco was born in Melbourne Australia in 1997 with Cerebral Palsy. Growing up she never really understood that she had a disability. She was a sports fanatic and involved in swimming, diving, cross country, gymnastics and dancing.
Paige started competing in para sport in primary school when her sports teacher suggested she take part in the para category for athletes with a disability. She started competing in cross country then onto para athletics.
At the age of 11 Paige was invited to a Paralympic Talent Search Day. She was put through numerous tests and tried different sports. After the testing, staff suggested she should try cycling. But Paige loved athletics and continued to run. Her goal was to make the Australian Paralympic team in athletics for Rio 2016. When she didn’t make the team she was devastated but continued to run. Injury forced her to rethink her decision about cycling.
In 2017 Paige started cycling with a local club and became involved with a cycling coach. She then decided to move to Adelaide in 2018 to pursue her cycling career.
In 2019 she made her first international team for the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn Netherlands.
In Apeldoorn she set 3 world records in 2 days, which was a first for a female para cyclist and became the C3 World Champion in the 3km individual pursuit and 500m time trial. As well as a silver in the women’s scratch race.
In 2019 she also competed in her first Para-cycling Road World Cups in Europe and Canada where she won gold and bronze in the time trials and 5th in the road race.
This qualified her for the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Emmen, Netherlands where she won gold and became world champion in the time trial and was 5th in the road race.
Paige won the first Gold Medal of the postponed Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games, winning the C1-33000m Individual Pursuit. The 24-year-old also smashed her own World Record in this event, crossing the line in 3:50.815 minutes. Her medal wins at the Games didn’t stop there, with Paige claiming a bronze medal on the road in the C1-3 Time Trial and it was a photo finish when she took out the third position in the C1-3 Cycling Road Race.
As well as all the hard training for Para Cycling, Paige has completed an Undergraduate Degree in Sports Science through the Australian Catholic University. She is hoping to continue her study to complete a Masters Degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology, which will enable her to work in the rehabilitation area.
Awards:
2021 - Para Athlete of the Year, South Australian Sports Institute
2019- Athlete with a disability award, South Australian Sports Institute.
2019- Para Track Athlete of the year
