Louise Sauvage - Recognition

Recognition

Sport is my life. I have made a career out of it – I am a professional athlete. Living in Australia we are all very sport minded and I cannot see a life without it.

Sauvage was the Australian Paralympian of the Year in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998. She was also the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Athlete of the year in 1997 and in 2001 inducted into the AIS 'Best of the Best'. In 1998, she was a winner of the Australian of the Year Awards in the ABIGGRIUOP National Sports Award category. In 2000, Sauvage was named the Female Athlete of the Year in the Sport Australia Awards. In 2000, She was named the "World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability" at the first Laureus Sports Awards held in Monte Carlo. In 1999 and 2000, she was named the International Female Athlete of the Year. She received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000.

A Sydney Harbour Supercat (Catamaran) was named in her honour in 2001. The Louise Sauvage Pathway, a 6.3-kilometre (3.9 mi) wheelchair-accessible bicycle and walking path within Sydney Olympic Park, is also named in her honour. Sauvage and New South Wales Treasurer Michael Egan christened the park on 6 March 2003. In 2011, she was one of the first people to be inducted into the Australian Paralympian Hall of Fame, along with Frank Ponta and George Bedbrook. In 2012, she was inducted into the International Paralympian Hall of Fame.

Several Paralympians cite Sauvage as inspiring them to become athletes, including wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley.