CLIFFORD HAS A VISION OF GLORY AS HE CHASES DRE AMS
JARYD Clifford looks at things differently from most athletes, but not because he’s legally blind. He has macular degeneration, which blurs his central vision, but still allows him to see things from the edge of his eyes.
He can’t see far ahead and finds it difficult to make out finer details, including recognising faces, but his visual impairment hasn’t impacted his perception and ability to see the bigger picture.
When he was 13, he wrote down his sporting goals on a whiteboard in his room.
Under the headline “running”, he listed them as: Paralympian, World Medal, World Record, World Champion, Ch Paralympic Gold, Gold Marathon. He checked off the first goal in 2016, aged 17, when he was selected to run the 1500m and 5000m at the Rio Paralympics. He didn’t win a medal that time but is back in Tokyo to represent Australia in the 1500m, 5000m and the marathon – and he is the hot favourite to win the lot of them. “Rio honestly opened my eyes to a lot of things,” Clifford said. ”I thought I want to come back one day and win gold.”