Dylan Alcott

Dylan Martin Alcott, (born 4 December 1990) is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker.

Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers".

Dylan Alcott was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 4 December 1990 to parents Martin and Resie.

He has an older brother named Zack.

He was born with a tumour wrapped around his spinal cord which was operated on during the first few weeks of his life.

The tumour was successfully cut out; however, it left Alcott a paraplegic, requiring him to use a wheelchair.

Alcott attended Brighton Grammar School from year 6, and he competed for Victoria in swimming, and Australia for wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball.

Alcott made his debut for the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, at the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, where the team won the bronze medal.

At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition.

Alcott graduated Brighton Grammar school in 2008.

Alcott continued to hold his spot and was a member of the Rollers when the team travelled to the Beijing Olympic warm-up tournament in January 2008.

Alcott made his name in basketball through his performances in the national league competition, competing for the Dandenong Rangers (no affiliation with the female team of the same name) and being selected in the all-star team for 2008.

He has achieved success through junior competition as well, being named the Most Valuable Player at the Junior National Basketball Championships.

Alcott was part of the gold medal-winning Rollers team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia.

In his first Paralympics, Alcott was quoted: "To be 17 and win gold... well it just doesn't get any better than that."

In 2009, Alcott accepted a scholarship at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he went on to win the College Championship division with the University of Illinois wheelchair basketball team.

Alcott's first sport of choice was wheelchair tennis, where he represented Australia on numerous occasions, reaching a ranking of 100 in the world by age 16 (4th in the world for under-18s).

Alcott played his first game of wheelchair basketball aged 14.

In 2010, Alcott was a part of the Rollers' success at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, England.

It was the first world championship the Australian wheelchair basketball team had ever won, and Alcott was named in the World All Star 5 for the tournament.

After one year of study, he decided to move back to Melbourne to train for the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Alcott was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver.

In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles.

In 2014, Alcott returned to wheelchair tennis.

At the age of 16, he was ranked inside the top five juniors in the world.

In July 2014, he defeated world number three Andy Lapthorne 7–5, 6–1 in the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship final in Nottingham to win his first Super Series crown.

Early in the year, he won the New Zealand Open in just his second tournament appearance.

In January 2015, he won the quad wheelchair Australian Open title by defeating David Wagner in straight sets.

It was his maiden grand slam title.

At the conclusion on 2015, he was ranked number 1 after winning eight titles including two grand slam singles titles.

He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.

Alcott is the only man to complete the Golden Slam in quad singles, winning all four majors and the Paralympics in 2021.

Alcott teamed up with Heath Davidson to win the Men's Quad Doubles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

They defeated the reigning champions David Wagner and Nick Taylor in the gold medal match 4–6, 6–4, 7–5.

In addition, he also won a separate non-calendar-year Grand Slam in quad singles between 2018 and 2019.

He is also the only man to complete the Grand Slam in quad doubles, winning all four major titles in 2019.

Alongside his sporting career, Alcott hosted the weekend afternoon radio show on Australian radio station Triple J, and the ABC live music show The Set, as well as being a commentator for the 2019 Australian Open.

He also was a member of the panel on the AFL Footy Show in 2019 until its cancellation.

In 2022, Alcott was named Australian of the Year and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

A portrait by Felix von Dallwitz titled Dylan Alcott, AOTY was a finalist in the 2022 Archibald Prize.