Catherine Huggett

Catherine Lucette Dargie, OAM

Huggett's parents moved to Broadbeach Waters in 1985, where her swimming career was nurtured by the Director of Gold Coast Recreation and Sport, Anna-Louise Kassulke, and Denis Cotterell, who had been head coach of the Miami Swim Club since he had helped organise it in 1976. Huggett's mother approached Cotterell and asked him to include Huggett in his training squad. She promised that if he did so, Huggett would win a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. When he asked how strong Huggett was, she replied "You're talking Mallee bull."

In 1989, Huggett competed in the Robin Hood Cerebral Palsy Games in England, where she won six gold medals and one silver. That year she received the Queensland Disabled Athlete of the Year Award. The 1990 Australian Swimming Championships saw events for disabled athletes added for the first time, and she won gold. She went on to compete at the World Championships for the Disabled at Assen, where she won a gold and three bronze medals. She was survived by her parents and brother.