Anne Brunell

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.

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. 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. Ian and Phyllis Currie had four children of their own, who are step siblings to Anne. Currie won her first skateboard at a beachside carnival in Rye, Victoria at the age of six. 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 questionable water quality and the coach of the Australian Paralympic swim team at the time – Peter Carroll – informing swimmers to “…shut your mouth and swim” ... Currie received a sporting grant which was designed to assist elite disabled athletes in pursuing their sporting goals. To encourage inclusiveness and respect towards different disabilities, the number of classifications for para-swimming increased during the 1980s. Organising events proved difficult as there was often an insufficient number of swimmers in each classification. Currie won silver in the Women's medley relay and fourth in the 200m and 800m freestyle events. Hewson congratulated Currie for the physical barriers she had overcome and her contribution to Paralympic swimming. The number of classifications dropped from 31 at the 1988 Seoul, Korea Paralympic Games to 10 at these Games. Currie was grouped into the S6 category which includes athletes with disabilities such as loss of two arms, short stature, and moderate coordination problems on one side of body.

Currie won gold in the Women's 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay S1 – S6, Women's 200m Freestyle S6, Women's 100m Freestyle S6 and bronze in the Women's 50m Freestyle S6. Currie was appointed Women's Captain of the Australian team.

Post Swimming Career Currie married Brendan Brunell and together they have two sons. In this role, Currie and other Athlete Liaison Officers operated out of an office in the Paralympic Village, where Paralympic athletes had the opportunity to ask questions and receive support and advice from former Paralympic athletes.

Currie was involved in The Australian Paralympic Oral History Project where twenty-seven pioneering Australian Paralympic athletes were interviewed by historians. Currie's interview was published on Trove and the National Library of Australia's catalogue. Currie spoke to students about how her disability did not stop her from achieving her goals, and that this was due to hard work and positivity. Over six pages of typed text, Currie retells her life story and emphasizes the support systems she had growing up, her biggest barriers to success and her greatest achievements. Stewart's purpose in writing this book was to highlight the determination and resilience of sportsmen and women who had represented Australia up until 1993. Currie was asked to provide a success tip which reads "If you want to achieve great things in life, be prepared to make sacrifices, set goals and realise that your accomplishments will usually reflect how hard you have worked." This award recognised Australian athletes, coaches, office holders, sports scientists and those who tended sporting facilities and grounds who had contributed to Australia's sporting success. She has later stated that this award was "...pretty high up there...".

In 2024, she was inducted into Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame