MADELINE McTernan, 22, Coffs Harbour swimmer and Tokyo Paralympic swimmer

COFFS Harbour Paralympian Madeleine McTernan has dedicated a recent gold medal win to Linda Mol, a family friend and war veteran who tragically lost her fight against ovarian cancer earlier this month.

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McTernan, 22, who competed for Australia at the Tokyo Paralympics, was competing at the 2023 Australian Swimming Championships (April 7-10) when Linda passed.

Linda Mol proudly served in the Australian Army for 35 years, serving her country on several overseas deployments and rising to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1.

Sadly, Linda was struck down with ovarian cancer in December 2019 and lost her fight on April 7.

She has left behind husband Alex, who proudly served 42 years in the Army, and her three sons Aaron, Aidan and Blaine who also proudly served in the Army, two of them serving on several overseas deployments, collectively giving 109 years’ service to Australia.

Linda has also left behind her beautiful daughter Sarah.

After reading a Facebook post by the Mol family, Maddie, who has an intellectual disability and competes in the S14 category, was so inspired about Linda’s achievements and dedication to our country, she felt she had to reach out and honour Linda’s service and her passing.

“I read a story on my Dad’s Facebook page about Linda, who was admitted to the palliative care ward at QEH in Adelaide due to her battle with Ovarian and Peritoneal Cancer,” Maddie said.

“When Dad told me he served in the Army with Alex in 6 RAR in the 1980s, and Linda had served 35 years in the Army, I was really sad and cried.

“Now she was fighting for her life in hospital.

“Then, four days later when I came home from training, Dad told me Linda had passed away and I broke down in tears.”

Maddie decided then and there she would dedicate her 200m Freestyle race at the 2023 Australian Swimming Championships in honour of Linda as well as donate whatever medal she was lucky enough to win to the Mol family as a mark of respect for their service to our nation.

In the Women’s 200m Freestyle Multiclass final, McTernan qualified second fastest in the morning heats, where her fellow Australian teammate Ruby Storm broke the Australian record to qualify fastest in lane four with a time of 2:12.95.

In the final the race changed place several times between McTernan and Storm, before McTernan powered away on the final lap to stop the clock at 2:13.01 and claim the gold medal for the Mol family.

Storm finished second with the silver medal in a time of 2:14.85 and third place and bronze medal went to Maddie’s Australian teammate Jade Lucy in a time of 2:17. 33.

“It was a surreal moment for me,” Maddie said after the race, “I just wanted to swim extra fast for Linda because I knew that it would mean so much if I could win for her.

“Wow, I’d achieved my goal for Linda and her family.

“I am so glad to dedicate that race to her and now I will send my medal to the Mol family in South Australia.”

Maddie’s father Paul McTernan said, “I am not a religious person by nature, however, something happened on the last lap for Maddie to win this race, and to win it, Maddie had to do a PB time, for Linda and her family in South Australia.

“After the race I got so emotional, I even cried on the phone when I notified Alex that Maddie had won the race in honour of Linda and his family.”

Over the three days of the championships Maddie won two gold medals and one bronze with a PB in the 200m Freestyle.

In the all-important women’s 100m Freestyle event, she came third overall in the final, and first in the women’s S14 class in the A final; winning gold in the women’s Multiclass 200m Freestyle final and bronze in the women’s 100m Backstroke final.

By Andrea FERRARI