The donation was made by Annesley to the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC), who are sending 161 athletes to London to compete in 13 sports.

The announcement was made at the Athletics Centre in Sydney's Olympic Park, built for the Games Australia hosted in 2000 when they came top of the Paralympic medal standings.

The country will be sending athletes to compete in goalball for the first time since Sydney 2000.

The contingent will also include shooter Libby Kosmala (pictured above), marking her 11th appearance at the Paralympics.

The 70-year-old, who has won 13 medals over the years, will hope to repeat her highly successful 1984 Games at Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the original Paralympics 64 years ago.

Australia has maintained a top five place in the gold medal tally since Atlanta 1996 and will hope to continue that this summer.


The country is also confident that this summer they will reach the milestone of winning their 1,000th Paralympic medal – they are currently on 989.

"We are proud to support our Paralympic athletes, many of whom come from this great state, as they represent Australia on the world stage in the upcoming London Paralympic Games," said Annesley.

"All of our representatives display outstanding ability and are elite athletes in their own right."

APC chief executive Jason Hellwig added: "This support is highly valued by the Australian Paralympic Committee, as we finalise our preparations of the Australian Team for the London 2012 Paralympic Games."

"London 2012 will be largest and most competitive Paralympic Games in history, and I'm confident the Australian team will do our nation proud."

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