| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Arj, Duracell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 November 1981 Tirana, Albania | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paralympic athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Retinitis pigmentosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 100 metres 200 metres Long jump | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Fiamme Azzurre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partner | Emanuele Di Marino | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Arjola Dedaj (born 26 November 1981 in Tirana, Albania) is a blind Italian Paralympic athlete who competes in sprinting and long jump events in international level events. [1]
Dedaj was born in Albania, she was discriminated by her visual impairment which she has had since the age of three years old because there were no schools in Albania that could provide her an education. She immigrated to Italy in a rubber dinghy in 1998 along with her father and brother to join her mother who was in Milan. [2] [3]
She and her partner Emanuele Di Marino, who is her training partner and also participates in Paralympic track and field events are referred to as "La coppia dei sogni" ("the dream couple" in Italian). [4]
Assunta Legnante is a visually impaired Italian shot putter. She has competed in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, one of the few athletes to do so. As of February 2013, she is the current F11 shot put world record holder. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's discus throw F11, and Women's shot put F12, winning silver medals.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has also won over 50 world championship medals.
Elizabeth Clegg, is a Scottish Paralympic sprinter and tandem track cyclist who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Kathryn Ross is an Australian Paralympic rower. She is a four-time world champion who has participated at four Paralympics from 2008 to 2020, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She set a world's best time in the PR2 1X event at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
Jessica Gallagher is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.
Jodi Elkington-Jones is Australian athlete who has cerebral palsy. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and has also competed in two Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 2014 Games in the F37/38 long jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
Annalisa Minetti is an Italian singer, politician and Paralympic athlete.
Lakeisha Dawn Patterson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. She won medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won Australia's first gold medal of the Games in a world record time swim in the Women's 400m freestyle S8. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she won the gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S9.
Ella Azura Pardy is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in the T38 100m, 200m and long jump. She represented Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in long jump and the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics where she won a bronze medal and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Arjola Trimi is an Italian Paralympic swimmer competing in S4 classification events. She competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's 4 × 50 mixed freestyle relay, winning a silver medal.
Vanessa Low is a German-born Australian Paralympic athlete competing in T42 sprint and long jump events. Born in East Germany, she gained Australian nationality in June 2017.
Taylor Doyle is an Australian Paralympic athlete with an intellectual and physical disability. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
McKenzie Coan is an American swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she swam the 400m Freestyle in the S8 category. Coan was one of four S8 category swimmers chosen to compete for Team USA at the games. She later had her breakout games in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she would go on to win 3 gold medals in the category S7 50, 100, and 400M Freestyle races, with an additional silver medal in the 34-point women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay. In the process of getting her gold medal in the 50M Freestyle she also set a new Paralympic Record.
Lauritta Onye is a Paralympian athlete who competes in F40 classification throwing events. She competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro winning gold in the F40 shot put. Onye is also an actress, performing under the name Laury White.
Giulia Ghiretti is an Italian para-swimmer. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio she won a bronze medal in the 50m Butterfly S5, and a silver in the 100m Breaststroke SB4. She also won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in 100 metre breaststroke SB4.
Arianna Talamona is an Italian Paralympic swimmer who competes in international level events.
Giuseppina "Giusy" Versace is an Italian Paralympic athlete who competes in sprinting events in international level events and a television presenter and member of the Senate for the Action party.
Xenia Francesca Palazzo is an Italian Paralympic swimmer of Russian descent who competes in international level events, She competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's 100m Backstroke - S8, Women's 200 individual medley SM8 winning a silver medal, Women's 4×100 freestyle relay P34 winning a gold medal, Women's 400 freestyle S8 winning a bronze medal and in Women's 50 metre freestyle S8, winning a bronze medal.
