events. Compared to T54 athletes, she has less use of her abdominal muscles, which means she cannot raise herself as much in her wheelchair to get the best angle to propel herself forward. Ballard first entered competitive wheelchair races in 1994, at the age of twelve. Her first racing wheelchair was bought second hand. By 1997, she started taking the sport more seriously and began setting records in Australian athletics for her classification. A year later she was representing her country on the international stage. By 2000, she held national records in the T53 100 m and 200 m events. From 2002 she held a sports scholarship at the University of Sydney, where she was coached by Andrew Dawes (Christie's husband). At the time, Dawes also coached Louise Sauvage, and on occasion the two would train together. After Sauvage retired from competitive wheelchair athletics following the 2004 Games, she became Ballard's coach. In 2021, she is coached by Fred Periac. Paralympics Ballard competed in Sydney in the 2000 Summer Paralympics but did not win any medals, placing fourth in both the 100 m and 200 m events; she was also a torch bearer, and featured in the entertainment section of the opening ceremony, where she circled the track in the air, suspended by a blimp and giant inflated angels. In preparation for the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Ballard trained six days a week in 11 sessions. Her training included going to Centennial Park and training on the hills there. It also included track work twice a week and doing weight training at least three times a week. This training schedule caused a few injuries, so she reduced the training frequency for later Games. Just before the Games, she competed in a warm up event in Switzerland, and set Australian records in the 100 m, 400 m and 800 m events. At the 2004 games, she won a bronze medal in the T53 100 m, behind Tanni Grey-Thompson and Francesca Porcellato. Her goal for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics was to set a personal best, but she also had eyes on a medal. She took the year off her psychology degree to train six times a week. At the 2008 games, along with her teammates Christie Dawes, Madison de Rozario, and Jemima Moore, she achieved her best Paralympic result, winning a silver medal behind China's world record in the T53/54 4x100 m relay.