Jayden Warn set for Tokyo

By Jack Morgan

Paralympian Jayden Warn flies to Tokyo tomorrow where he hopes to secure his second wheelchair rugby gold medal.

The Warragul local won gold at Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Paralympics and returns with a veteran team, where they will attempt Paralympic history.

The Australian Steelers also won gold at the London Paralympics and are now going for three gold medals in a row, which has never been done in wheelchair rugby history. 

But Warn expects Tokyo will be completely different to Rio. The biggest difference will be no spectators. In Rio’s gold medal match, the Steelers competed in front of more than 12,000 people, who packed the stadium breaking the wheelchair rugby record for spectators. 

“Going into an empty stadium, it’s going to be a different feeling, it’s going to be on us to make the noise and keep us pumped,” Warn said. 

The 12-member squad is thought to be the most experienced wheelchair rugby side, eight players have “big game experience” and have competed in Rio. Five won gold at London 2012.

Warn said he’s confident in himself and his team, but it’s a different sort of confidence than what he had in 2016.

“With everything that’s happened all the camps have been cancelled, we haven’t actually played an official comp since we were in the UK in Feb last year,” he said.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Warn was stuck in Warragul training at home on his handcycle. Team training was kept to Zoom meetings and he couldn’t get on court until he received an athlete exemption late last year.

In preparation for Tokyo, the Australian squad has been training together three days a week in Melbourne, but it hasn’t come without an impact from lockdowns.

When Warn and the Steelers squad arrive in Tokyo they will receive a much different greeting than what they had in Rio. Warn said there will be many COVID tests and no chance to explore the Olympic village.

“This time for us we’re going to be locked down in our building the whole time, we’re not allowed to go to the dining hall or anything like that, all the food will be brought to our building,” he said.

But despite this, Warn said the hardest thing will be no crowds. His wife and three-year-old son will be watching at home in Warragul and hope to watch with many more if restrictions allow.

Wheelchair rugby is the only full-contact wheelchair sport, and for its hard bumps and tough contests it attracts a large audience. 

Warn was drawn to the sport during his recovery from a car accident that caused his incomplete quadriplegia. He watched the Steelers train at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Kew where he was recovering. And after five months of rehab, he was invited to try out the sport by former Australian players.

“It was good because it was a way of getting us out of our rooms when we weren’t sort of doing anything to get a bit more physical and show what else was out there after the accident,” he said.

Warn watched the squad win gold at London 2012, and ever since he was set on becoming a Paralympian. After four gruelling years of training, Warn achieved his goal and expects nothing will top the feeling of winning that first gold medal.

“It would be amazing if we take that gold in Tokyo but that feeling of doing everyone proud and all that hard work paying off and obviously that feeling of doing your country proud, it’s just a feeling you can’t put into words,” he said.

The Steelers arrive in Tokyo a week before their first event. They take on Denmark in their first Pool A match.