Doing us proud: South-west athletes to keep an eye on in Paris

The Standard takes a look at the chances of the five south-west athletes who will represent their region and country with pride on the worldwide stage in front of billions of people.

It will be the 32-year-old Australian champion's final Olympic games after announcing her retirement from the professional ranks at the conclusion of this year.

After a fourth-placed finish in Tokyo 2020 in the women's time trial, the Camperdown export Brown is one of Australia's major medal hopes in the event and comes into the Olympics in strong form.

Brown - who will compete in the Women's Individual Time Trial on July 27 - is a three-time national champion - and won the famous Liege-Bastgone-Liege classic in April so will be full of confidence.

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Another of Australia's great medal hopes, the Bookaar-raised trap shooter from Camperdown will compete at Olympic level for a second time after her debut at Tokyo 2020.

The 29-year-old, a product of the Noorat Gun Club, reached the final of the women's trap event in 2020 and placed sixth but is in a strong position for a podium finish this time around.

Preparations have been strong for Smith, arguably the top Australian women's shooter in the squad, who will begin her Olympic campaign on July 30 with the women's trap event qualifiers.

A recent silver medal at the International Sport Shooting Federation World Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan on Sunday, May 5, adding to her six golds, two silvers and two bronze medals will boost her hopes of a strong performance.

The Warrnambool-raised Brown makes his debut at the Paralympics from August 28 when he represents the Australian Rollers.

The 19-year-old's dream came to fruition after he was announced as part of a 12-player squad to represent the Australian men's wheelchair team - one of six new players set to pull on the jersey.

Brown, an ex-Emmanuel College student currently living in Darwin, has worked his way up the national ranks through the under 23 Australian team.

The Rollers won gold twice at the Paralympics, the first in 1996 at the Atlanta games with a second gold in 2008 in Beijing. The most recent medal success came in 2012 at London.

Brown jets off to Paris in mid-August after a staging camp to prepare for the Games.

Hamilton-raised Melissa Tapper will be front and centre for her third Olympic Games in a strong six-person Australian table tennis team, which features a mix of teenagers and mature-aged athletes.

The 34-year-old table tennis legend made history in 2016 as the first Australian to compete in both the Paralympics and Olympics in any sport and will be a medal hope for her team.

Tapper won a silver medal in the Women's Team C9-10 alongside Lei Li Na and Yang Qian at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. She enters the games in scintillating form, going through undefeated in the Table Tennis Australian qualification trials recently.

It will be a hectic few months for Tapper, with the Olympic table tennis events to run from July 27-August 10 and then onto the Paralympics.

For more than two decades, Casterton-raised Kathryn Mitchell has been one of the country's leading javelin throwers.

The 42-year-old, now based in Ballarat but born in Hamilton, enters her fourth Olympics where she has placed in the top-eight on three occasions.

Mitchell is one of only two athletes in the 55-person Australian Track and Field squad to go to a fourth Olympics alongside marathon runner Genevieve Gregson.

The Women's Javelin Throw qualifiers will launch from August 7 with Mitchell looking to break onto the podium and medal for her country.