Anne Nicole Brunell, OAM (née Currie ; born 13 July 1970) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who was born with a limb deficiency. She started competitive swimming at the age of 11 and swam for the Nunawading Swimming Club. Currie competed internationally at the 1984 New York / Stoke Mandeville Games, where she won a bronze medal in the Women's 100 m Freestyle A1 event. At the age of 13 years and 11 months, this made her the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist at that time. Currie went on to compete at the 1986 Surakarta FESPIC Games, the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games, the 1989 Kobe FESPIC Games, the Assen 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled, and the 1992 Barcelona Paralympic Games.
Currie won a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993 for service to the Australian Paralympic swimming movement and was appointed Athlete Liaison Officer for the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. Currie received the Australian Sports Medal from the then Prime Minister John Howard in 2000 and was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2007.
Early life
Anne Nicole Brunell (née Currie) was born on 13 July 1970 at the Royal Women's Hospital, Carlton, Victoria. She was born with a stump extending to her knee on her left side and a stump extending past her hip on her right side, along with three fingers on her right hand. At birth, doctors were unable to identify why Currie was born with a limb deficiency but were able to rule out prenatal thalidomide poisoning as a possible contributor. Currie was put up for adoption by her birth parents at St Gabriel's Babies' Home, Kew, Victoria. After four years, Currie was adopted by Ian and Phyllis Currie, who took a liking to her after she asked Ian to "…pick me up and touch the roof”. Ian and Phyl Currie both grew up in Benalla, Victoria. As a youngster, Ian was involved in sport and played for the local Benalla Football Club, winning best first-year player in December 1953. Ian also bowled for the local Benalla cricket team. Ian went on to become a sales engineer. Currie was Phyllis's first adoptee, however throughout her lifetime Phyllis would foster over fifty children. Phyllis won the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1998 and was featured on the Australia Day 1998 Honors List for ‘…service to children as a foster parent, to the Amputees Association of Victoria and to the community’. Ian and Phyllis Currie had four children of their own, who are step siblings to Anne.
Schooling
Currie grew up in Glen Waverly, Victoria and attended Glendal Primary School where she would become sport house vice captain. Currie was one of the first students with such a visible disability to attend Glendal Primary School, however remembers the school as being inclusive. Her favorite subjects were English and Sport.
Currie attended Syndal Technical School in Mount Waverly and graduated at the end of Year Ten in 1986, before receiving a scholarship to attend Dandenong Business College. Currie graduated with two honors and seven credits.
Throughout these years, Currie wore a prosthesis for extra mobility, however also moved around using a skateboard. Currie won her first skateboard at a beachside carnival in Rye, Victoria at the age of six.
Introduction to Swimming
Currie was taught to float by her older sister Norma in their backyard pool. Currie went on to complete her Herald Learn to Swim Certificate – an initiative established by Frank Beaurepaire in 1929 which granted Victorian children a competency certificate if they could successfully swim 25 yards. With the assistance of Norma, Currie would learn all four swimming strokes. Currie began swimming for the Nunawading Swimming Club under coach Leigh Nugent and competed in the first National Titles for Amputees in 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland where she created three records in backstroke, breastroke and freestyle. Currie said that after this competition, her swimming career “…really took off…”.
Swimming career
1984 New York / Stoke Mandeville Summer Paralympic Games
At the age of 13 years and 11 months, Currie qualified for the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games in New York City, New York, United States after breaking her personal best in the 100m freestyle by five seconds. Currie won bronze in the final of the Women's A1 100m freestyle, becoming the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist. Currie was surpassed by 13-year-old Maddison Elliot who won gold for Australia at the London, United Kingdom Summer Paralympic Games in 2012. Currie remembers the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games as a “…huge turning point…” for herself as both a disabled individual and athlete as a variety of disabled peoples were represented.