Fiona full of praise for festival

Fiona Hannan showed why she’s a medal-winning Olympian during Saturday’s grape crush, one of the main events at the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival.
Fiona’s hard work and determination to succeed has not only resulted in a bronze medal in basketball in 1996 but now the much sought-after title of Queensland Grape Crushing Champion!
After being told that she now has to defend her title, Fiona was more than happy to commit to returning to Stanthorpe for the festival, but next time she would bring her family.
“I thought this was a dignified, top end wine event,” she said. “What I liked was the whole sense of community during the parade.”
Fiona was also pleased to be able to eat fresh produce instead of supermarket food, saying she stocked up with boxes full of Stanthorpe produce.
The bronze medal she won was Australia’s first basketball medal at the Games. Fiona has also achieved the rare feat of representing Australia in two different sports at the Olympics.
After Atlanta, she switched sports to play handball, an exciting Olympic sport with only a limited player base in Australia.
Her brave decision was rewarded when she represented Australia in handball at Sydney 2000.
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Rebecca Brown