| Samuel Rizzo | |
| Headercolor: | green |
| Textcolor: | yellow |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Birth Date: | 23 August 2000 |
| Sport: | Athletics |
Samuel "Sam" Rizzo (born 3 August 2000) is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He has been selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Rizzo was born 3 August 2000 with spina bifa. In 2024, he works as a fabricator and lives in Buninyong, Victoria.
He is classified as a T54 wheelchair racer. After meeting Australian Paralympic gold medallist Richard Colman at the age of eight and watching him win gold at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, the idea of competing at the Paralympics became a dream. He started wheelchair at the age of twelve in 2012.[1]
At his first international competition - the 2017 World Para Junior Championships in Switzerland, he won three bronze medals - 100 m, 800 m and 1500 m T54 events. Rizzo finished sixth in Men's 1500 m T54 at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast.[2] In 2023, Rizzo won the Men's Open event at the Oz Day 10K Wheelchair Road Race.
Rizzo competed in three events at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, Paris - he made two finals, finishing ninth in the Men's 1500 m T54 and tenth in the Men's 5000 m T54.[3] In March 2024, at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix, he recorded a Paralympics Games A qualifier. He broke Kurt Fearnley's 1500 m T54 Australian record by four seconds set in 2012, with the time 2:50.84.[4] [5]
After breaking Furnley's record, Rizzo stated " “I want to help the next group of kids coming through in the same way that Richard Colman and Kurt Fearnley helped me, because if I wasn’t doing this sport, I’m sure my life would look completely different. f I could have half the name of Kurt Fearnley or Richard Colman, and their legacies – I would be a pretty happy man! One step at a time though.” In the lead up to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Rizzo competed in three events - 800 m, 1500 m and 5000 m T54 at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, Kobe, Japan.[6]
Rizzo's selection at the 2024 Paris Paralympics led becoming him Ballarat's first Paralympics wheelchair racer since Greg Smith.
He is coached by Richard Colman. In 2024, he is a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship athlete.[7]