Kyle Vander-Kuyp   By Tyson, Tessa, Sinea and Jessica

Fact File   Birth Date:  30/5/71 Current Age:  21 Height:  184cm Weight:  82kg Lives: Victoria, Australia Occupation:  Full time Athlete Aboriginal Tribe:  Wurundjeri Likes & Hobbies:  Kyle enjoys shopping and designing and his favourite car is a volkswagon.  He is also involved in childcare and coaching.

Whenever he gets time, Kyle talks to black kids in communities all over Australia and when his hurdling career is finished, he would like to teach or be involved with children.

Kyle is an Australian Aboriginal. At the age of five weeks, he was adopted by Pat and Ben Vander-Kuyp. As a boy, Kyle found that he enjoyed Little Athletics and found that he had a talent for the hurdles at the age of eleven. He also experienced some hard times though fitting in as an Aboriginal Australian; "I remember being teased so much that I tried to scratch the colour from my arms..." Kyle's birth mother first got in contact with him only a couple of years ago.

Kyle is Australia's best sprint hurdler. His dream has always been to compete in the Olympic Games which he achieved in Atlanta in 1996 and at Sydey in 2000. Kyle was the first Australian to make an Olympic Hurdle final at Atlanta since 1952! When he came seventh in the final of the men's 110 metres hurdles, he punched his fist in the air, he was so happy! He had raced against the very best hurdlers in the world. it was everything he had dreamed of. Kyle says that his mother is his hero , she has always supported him and watched him race everywhere in Australia and so he thought she should also be there in Atlanta to watch him and bought her a plane ticket.