Neelam O'Neill is hoping to get to the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
Neelam O’Neill first held a gun aged 6 or 7.
Now the 30-year-old Aucklander is a high-performance athlete in para shooting, and has her sights set on the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.
O’Neill, an air rifle and pistol shooter, has been shooting targets for as long as she can remember.
“Me and my dad would shoot cans and containers just for the fun of it, and I just really liked being able to aim at something and hit it,” she tells the Herald.
She won a .22 rifle shooting competition at school when she was 15 and took out a national competition the following year. But it wasn’t until she moved to Auckland for uni that she realised she could turn her passion into a profession - one that’s since taken her to international competitions.
Now O’Neill is about to head off to Peru for the World Championships, which could see her qualify for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
As a fulltime athlete, she trains five or six days a week and works part-time as a banker at BNZ. And while she gets partial funding for her sport from Paralympics and High Performance Sport New Zealand, the majority of the time her passion is self-funded.
O’Neill is hoping a Givealittle page can help her get to Peru, and eventually to Paris for the Paralympics.
The 30-year-old, who was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair to get around, explains there are extra costs that come with her disability. The trip to Peru alone is costing her around $16,000.
“I have to also take a person with me to assist me because I can’t carry my gear and therefore my costs are doubled,” she says.
“There’s a lot of stuff that people probably don’t see, which is all the personal care and all the extra equipment I have to take - all my medical supplies, my shower chair, and I have to pay extra to take my shooting gear.”
The cost isn’t just financial, but can also take a physical toll. “Travelling is not easy, especially if you’re in a wheelchair,” she says.
“I think people underestimate the extra stuff that comes with having a disability while travelling. And trying to do this amazing thing where you only get one shot at it - yeah, it’s a lot.”
O’Neill is set to feature in TVNZ docuseries Unbreakable, which follows Kiwis with disabilities and screens next year.
She says it’s been “a really cool experience” to film, and hopes the show will give people some insight into her experience as a disabled athlete.
“[I hope it] shows people it’s not as easy as just going to training and picking up a gun - there’s so much more to being able to do what I do and to be able to compete at a high level as well.”
O’Neill missed out on her chance to qualify for the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo because of a lack of funding, and says financial pressures are keeping Kiwi athletes from chasing their dreams.
“It’s fully holding athletes back. We are so far away, our opportunities are so scarce ... the lack of opportunity is really difficult,” she admits.
As the only female para athlete who does pistol shooting in Oceania, and one of only a few in the continent to do air rifle shooting, she’s “fully” feeling the pressure. If she qualifies, she could be the first Kiwi female to compete in air pistol shooting at a Paralympics, and the first to compete in air rifle since 1984.
“There is that pressure of performing well, but it’s nothing compared to what I put on myself. I’m my biggest critic and my biggest competition as well,” she says.
“But I guess that’s the fun of it too; it’s not just about getting to Paralympics, it’s actually enjoying everything in the moment rather than looking at this one big goal.”
O’Neill hopes her journey will encourage other young Kiwis with disabilities who love sport to “have a go”.
“Just see where it takes you because you never know what passions lie underneath just trying something new. Just give everything a go, be brave and have the courage to go, ‘yeah, I’m going to do this’.
“There’s only so many opportunities in life that people get to have where they can make history. And I think just putting females on the map of breaking records is a huge thing for New Zealand. It would be amazing being part of that generation of strong wāhine that are breaking barriers in the sporting world.”
It’s something she wouldn’t be able to do without the support of her family - and O’Neill says it’s “a privilege and an honour to have these people supporting me the way that they do.”
Her dad is especially proud - “and just as a family, seeing how far I’ve come with it and what I’ve had to overcome to be able to do this, it’s been incredible.”
She’s also “super grateful” to all those who have donated to her Givealittle so far.
“Every bit counts, that’s going to help me get closer and closer to Paris 2024 and hopefully represent all of us on the world stage.”
Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in Kiwis’ real-life stories, beauty and skincare secrets, and anything even remotely related to coffee.