Melbourne, Australia — Monday, following her return from London, Wikinews talked with Amanda Carter, the longest-serving member of Australia's national wheelchair basketball team (the Gliders).
((Wikinews))  You're Amanda Carter!
((WN))  And, where were you born?
((WN))  It says here that you spent your childhood living in Banyule?
((WN))  Okay. And you used to play netball when you were young?
((WN))  And you're an occupational therapist, and you have a son called Alex?
((WN))  Any more children?
((WN))  You began playing basketball in 1991. 
((WN))  And  that you're a guard.
((WN))  And that you are a one point player.
((WN))  And you used to be a two point player?
((WN))  When were you first selected for the national team?
((WN))  And that was for Barcelona?
((WN))  How did we go?
((WN))  And what was Barcelona like?
((WN))  Did you play with a club as well?
((WN))  The 1994 World Championships. Where was that at?
((WN))  Which brings us to 1996.
((WN))  Your team finished fourth.
((WN))  Lost to the Unites States in the bronze medal game in front of a crowd of 5,000.
((WN))  That must have been awesome.
((WN))  They also have a fondness for the sport.
((WN))  They kept on saying in London that the Gliders have never won.
((WN))  So that was Atlanta. Then there was another tournament, the 1998 Gold Cup. 
((WN))  How did we go in that?
((WN))  But that qualified... no, wait, we didn't need to qualify...
((WN))  You were the second leading scorer in the event, with thirty points scored for the competition.
((WN))  In basketball, some of the low pointers do pretty well.
((WN))  I notice the scores seem lower than the ones in London.
((WN))  How often do the Gliders get together? It seems that you are all scattered all over the country normally.
((WN))  That's reasonably often.
((WN))  I didn't see you training in Sydney this time... then you went over to...
((WN))  2000. Sydney. Two Australia wins for the first time against Canada. In the team's 52–50 win against Canada you scored a lay up with sixteen seconds left in the match.
((WN))  That brings us to the 2000 Paralympics. It says you missed the practice game beforehand because of illness, and half the team had some respiratory infection prior to the game.
((WN))  You scored twelve points against the Netherlands, the most that you've ever scored in an international match. 
((WN))  At one point you made four baskets in a row.
((WN))  The team beat Japan, and went into the gold medal game. You missed the previous days' training session due to an elbow injury?
((WN))  During the match, you were knocked onto your right side, and... 
((WN))  Someone just bumped you?
((WN))  You were knocked down and you tore the tendons in your elbow, which required an elbow reconstruction...
((WN))  You spent eleven weeks on a CPM machine – what's a CPM machine?
((WN))  You're right handed?
((WN))  So, how's the movement in the right arm today?
((WN))  You still can't fully flex the right hand.
((WN))  How old is he now?
((WN))  So that recurs, does it?
((WN))  So you gave up wheelchair basketball after the 2000 games?
((WN))  Did they cover you from the 2000 injury?
((WN))  Who was that?
((WN))  Back in the Gliders again.
((WN))  And of course you got selected for 2012... 
((WN))  My recollection is that you weren't on the court a great deal, but there was a game when you scored five points?
((WN))  That was against Mexico.
((WN))   The strange thing was that afterwards the Mexicans were celebrating like they'd won...
((WN))  The speed at which things move is quite astonishing.
((WN))  Because you are the more experienced player.
((WN))  And now you have another silver medal.
((WN))  We double-checked, and there was nobody else on the team who had been in Sydney, much less Barcelona or Atlanta.
((WN))  Most of the Gliders seem to have come together in 2004, the current roster.
((WN))  Are you still playing? 
((WN))  You would have been isolated from him anyway.
((WN))  Fair enough.
((WN)) You will continue playing with the club?
((WN))  Is there anything else you'd like to say about your record? Which is really impressive. I can count the number of Paralympians who were on Team Australia in London who were at the Sydney games on my fingers.
((WN))   Greg Smith obviously, who was carrying the flag...
((WN))  What I basically wanted to ask was what sort of changes you've seen with the Paralympics over that time — 1992 to 2012.
((WN))  To me... London... the coverage on TV in Britain, but also here, some countries are ahead of others, but basically it's being treated like the Olympics. 
((WN))  Huge crowds...
((WN))  I was looking around the North Greenwich Arena...
And that arena! The seats went up and up and up! And as it was filling on the night, you could see that even that top deck had people sitting in it. I guess in 2000 even, to fill stadiums, which we did, we gave APC and school programs, a lot of school kids came to fill seats and things. We didn't necessarily see that in London. They were paid seats! People had gone out and spent money on tickets to come and see that sport. 
((WN))  I saw school groups at the football and the goalball, but not at the basketball.
((WN))  I was very impressed with the standard of play.
((WN))  What's in Osaka?
((WN))  After the Paralympics. 
((WN))  And then after that?
((WN))  How many tournaments do they normally play each year?  
((WN))  You played a tournament in the Netherlands? 
((WN))  Thank you very much for that.

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Wikinews interviews Australian Glider Amanda Carter