Name: Ben Weekes
Country: Australia
Sport: Wheelchair Tennis
Previous Paralympic Experience: Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021
Social Media: Instagram
Who is Ben Weekes
Weekes, 39, is competing in his sixth Paralympics, which is amazing considering his age. His first in 2004 in Athens came when he was 19.
When he was younger, Weekes developed a blood clot that caused nerve damage to his legs. “I had to learn to walk with a walking stick to get around, and I still need the chair for sport,” he said. His health issues were compounded in 2020 when he suffered a heart attack that required inserting a stent, the development of bone cancer and then skin cancer, the latter the byproduct of chemotherapy.
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Despite his medical challenges, Weekes never once thought of giving up tennis. “It’s a lot, but it’s what I love to do,” he said in an article for this year’s Australian Open. “Tennis is my passion.”
Weekes has been an out gay athlete for so long that it’s never been an issue.
“For me I don’t really have a big coming out story, because I have always been myself and I have never made a big deal of it because I always felt so comfortable,” he said.
“My partner Sam has come to a lot of tournaments in the past and everyone has just been so great about it, I’ve never felt the need to hide anything.”
Ben Weekes at the 2024 Paris Paralympics
Weekes has made the quarterfinals at the Paralympics once (in 2012) and lost in the round of 16 the last two Games. Despite never making the medal round, Weekes says he loves competing and is as excited for his sixth Paralympics as for his first.
