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At just 17 years old, Year 12 student Abbie Peet is preparing to represent Australia on the international stage at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin next week — a milestone that reflects years of determination, resilience and relentless hard work.
At school, Abbie is known as the kind of student who quietly gets on with the job. Whether she is in the classroom, cooking for Hospitality, out on the Calrossy farm, or on the athletics track representing Calrossy, she approaches every challenge with determination and positivity.
Behind the smile, however, is a remarkable story of resilience.
Abbie competes in para-athletics as a T36 classified athlete — a classification for athletes with cerebral palsy and related neurological conditions affecting movement, balance and coordination. In Abbie’s case, she experiences bilateral weakness and coordination challenges yet refuses to let those obstacles define her.
Her journey to this point has been years in the making.
Ironically, it all began with an unexpected primary school cross-country win.
“She came home after winning a school race and decided she wanted to run,” her father, Matt Peet, recalls.
Initially drawn to longer distance events, Abbie later discovered sprinting as this follows her pathway to represent in her classification, where her natural competitiveness and determination flourished. The move proved to be a turning point in her athletics career.
Today, she holds six Australian records across multiple events and age divisions, establishing herself as one of the region’s most promising young para-athletes. Those national records are; U15 T36 100m; U15 T36 200m; U17 T36 200m; U15 T36 800m; U17 T36 800m; U15 T36 1500m.
Her recent qualifying performances at the Australian Athletics National Championships in Brisbane confirmed she is ready to take the next step onto the international stage.
In an extraordinary achievement, Abbie is currently ranked fourth in the world in the T36 Open Women’s 200m — an incredible accomplishment for a regional Year 12 student balancing elite sport alongside school life.
At the Championships, Abbie qualified for the Oceania Athletics Championships in the 200m, recording a personal best time of 32.81 seconds — well under the qualifying standard of 32.9 seconds. She will also compete in the 100m as an independent sprinter, entering the event with an impressive time of 15.69 seconds, just 0.09 seconds outside another national qualifying time.
For Abbie, achieving the qualifying standard was emotional.
“Qualifying for the Australian team at the Oceania Championships was amazing because it showed me that all the hard work has been worth it,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting other athletes and competing against some of the best para-athletes in the Oceania region.”
Long-term, Abbie dreams of one day representing Australia at the Paralympic Games.
Today, Abbie’s training schedule is intense, balancing Year 12 studies with three track training sessions with her coach and the squad, weekly gym, physio and Personal Training sessions, recovery, travel and competition preparation.
For the Peet family, however, the journey to this moment began long before athletics.
Before Abbie was even born, their faith and resilience were already being tested.
The family was living in Orange when Abbie’s mother, Connie, noticed at 35 weeks pregnant that her usually active baby had suddenly stopped moving. Doctors quickly realised something was seriously wrong. Abbie was in foetal distress, and an emergency caesarean section was performed.
When Abbie was born, she was unresponsive.
She was revived and placed on life support before a remarkable sequence of events unfolded.
By chance, a Neonatal Emergency Transport Service team was already at Orange Airport assisting with another infant transfer which Abbie then became the priority. At the same time, a small plane crash at the airport threatened to delay urgent flights. Matt, who worked with NSW Police, was able to contact colleagues to help fast-track airport access so Abbie could be flown to Westmead Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for emergency treatment.
“Abbie was very sick,” the Professor of the NICU expressed to Matt once she had arrived.
After days of testing, doctors delivered devastating news to the family.
“They told us Abbie would not survive. They said she had no brain function and that her organs were shutting down — only the machines were keeping her alive,” Matt said.
In a previously published account of the experience, Matt described the overwhelming support and prayer from family, friends and church communities during those early days.
Against all expectations after life support had been turned off, Abbie survived.
Doctors later diagnosed her with cerebral palsy, but over time her family began witnessing milestones they had once been told may never happen.
Today, Abbie’s story is not defined by limitations, but by courage, resilience and possibility.
The road has not always been easy, but standing on the edge of international competition, Abbie is living proof that resilience, faith and determination can carry a person far beyond what others once believed possible.
The Peet family flies out to the Northern Territory tonight ahead of the Championships, with Abbie set to compete on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Abbie will step onto the track in Darwin wearing the green and gold with pride — chasing another personal best and inspiring everyone fortunate enough to know her story.
Matt and Connie say, “Abbie’s story is a display of the power of Prayer and God’s love and Grace. It’s a story of resilience and making the most out of every opportunity no matter what we are given in life. As Abbie’s parents, we are often inspired by her and the way she lets nothing hold her back.”
"From the day I was born, I have been in your care." Psalm 22:10
