Paralympic gold medallist David Nicholas has been granted a Key to the City of Proserpine courtesy of the Whitsunday Regional Council.
A commissioned portrait of the Proserpine local was also presented at a Civic Reception and Family Fun Day on the weekend.
Nicholas won gold in the C3 3000m cycling track event at the Rio Paralympics.
Whitsunday Mayor Andrew Willcox was joined by fellow councillors and a large crowd of families to watch the official presentation of the Key to the City.
Nicholas said the reception was fantastic and he was overwhelmed with the support of the Whitsunday community.
“Being presented with the Key to Proserpine and also the portrait was unreal.
“It was a great way to be welcomed home and I enjoyed signing all the gold medal mementos for the kids and having my photo taken with so many people.”
Mayor Willcox said the region was extremely proud of the gold medalist.
“Behind every Olympic and Paralympic Games medal is an amazing adventure and journey and David’s story is no different,” Cr Willcox said.
“His gold medal win in the 3km track individual pursuit at Rio took less than four minutes.
“Those four minutes made David the best in the world in his C3 category, those four minutes made him a gold medallist at back-to-back Paralympics after his gold in London and those four minutes provided inspiration for our Whitsunday community.
“However, those four minutes did not make David a legend because he was already well and truly a legend in our eyes, in the eyes of the community and certainly in the eyes of his family.
Nicholas will soon resume his strict training regime in the build-up to the National Track Championships in December 2016.
