The 20-year-old from Brisbane, who has cerebral palsy, claimed an astonishing eight gold medals at London 2012 to break Siobhan Paton's Australian record of six gold medals at a single Games.

The feat also made her the most successful athlete at the Paralympics.

Freney is joined on the shortlist by fellow swimmer Matthew Cowdrey, who became the country's most decorated Paralympian by taking his overall gold medal tally to 13 by securing five gold medals at the Aquatics Centre in London.

Next up is sprinter Evan O'Hanlon, who excelled on the track to win 100 and 200 metres gold medals, both in world record times.

Fellow athlete Kelly Cartwright also makes the shortlist after claiming a spectacular gold in the long jump and a silver in the 100m, as well as visually impaired cyclist Felicity Johnson, who claimed gold in the kilometre time trial with pilot Stephanie Morton.

The shortlist is completed by wheelchair rugby star Ryley Batt, who led his team to gold with a stunning 160 goals in the tournament, which was 31 ahead of the nearest contender.


As well as being up for the main prize, Batt, Cowdrey and O'Hanlon are up for the Male Athlete of the Year award, alongside sailor Daniel Fitzgibbon, cyclist Michael Gallagher and athlete Todd Hodgetts.

Meanwhile, Cartwright, Freney and Johnson are on the Female Athlete of the Year shortlist, which is completed by sailor Liesl Tesch.

Team of the year sees a quartet of the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the women's 4x100m freestyle swimming relay, the women's wheelchair basketball team and the two-person keelboat SKUD 18 in contention for the prize.

Junior Athlete of the Year award has a shortlist made up of cyclist Simone Kennedy, wheelchair racer Rheed McCracken and swimmers Katherine Downie and Maddison Elliott.

The final award for Coach of the Year sees cycling's Peter Day, Brad Dubberley from wheelchair rugby, Iryna Dvoskina from athletics, Brendan Keogh of swimming and Tim Matthews from athletics up for the prize.

The awards event are due take place at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on (Friday) November 8, with the winners, as well as the entire 2012 Paralympic Team, to be congratulated the following day at a public welcome home celebration at the Sydney Opera House from 11am until 1pm.

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