Dylan

Born in 1990, Dylan Alcott has achieved global success in not just one, but two sports. In 2008 in Beijing, he won his first Paralympic medal – the youngest wheelchair basketball gold medallist in history. He followed that with a gold medal at the 2010 IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in England (where he was also named in the World All-Star Five) and a silver medal in wheelchair basketball at the 2012 London Paralympics. He then launched his wheelchair tennis career and has since won two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, in men’s quad singles and doubles. In 2019 he claimed all four Grand Slam trophies, including the inaugural quad singles titles at Wimbledon and the French Open as well as the US Open (for the second time) and the Australian Open (for the fifth time).

Alcott is also an author, media personality and disability ambassador, who has founded both the musical festival Ability Fest and the Dylan Alcott Foundation.

He and artist Kirpy have been friends for many years and the two of them discussed the idea of a portrait – which was subsequently a finalist in the 2019 Archibald Prize – after Kirpy watched Alcott play the first-ever wheelchair tennis exhibition match at Wimbledon in 2018.