The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, have been held shortly after the corresponding Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Chantal Petitclerc is a Canadian wheelchair racer and a Senator from Quebec.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.
Trischa Zorn is an American Paralympic swimmer. Blind from birth, she competed in Paralympic swimming. She is the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games, having won 55 medals, and was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2012. She took the Paralympic Oath for athletes at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta.
Canada has participated eleven times in the Summer Paralympic Games and in all Winter Paralympic Games. They first competed at the Summer Games in 1968 and the Winter Games in 1976.
Katherine Proudfoot is a cerebral palsy athlete from Australia competing mainly in throwing events. She competed in the F36 classification at the 2008, 2012 and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning medals at each Game. Following a medical review request in early 2017, she now competes in seated throws in the F32 classification. At the 2017 Australian Athletics Championships she threw 7.04m in the Women's Shot Put Secured event, bettering the Women's F32 shot put world record mark of 6.55m.
Prue Watt, is a Paralympic swimming gold medalist from Australia. She has represented Australia at the four Paralympics from 2004 to 2016.
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.
Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification and TV presenter.
Hollie Beth Arnold, is a British parasport athlete competing in category F46 javelin. Although born in Grimsby, she now lives and trains in Loughborough. She represents Wales in the Commonwealth Games.
Victoria "Tori" Pendergast is an Australian F58 athletics shot put competitor and LW12.1 classified Para-alpine skier. When she competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, she became Australia's first female sit skier at the Winter Paralympics. She competed in two events, finishing seventh in women's slalom sit-ski and tenth in the women's giant slalom sit-ski. She also won a silver and a bronze medal in the slalom and super-G at the 2013 North America Cup, and a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 2013 IPC World Cup in Thredbo.
Veronika Vadovičová is a Slovak Paralympic shooter. In 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, she won gold medalint the 10 meter SH1. She competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals and a silver medal. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Mixed R6 50 metre rifle prone SH1, winning a gold medal.
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. Patterson has a been selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France
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. She has been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics - her third Games.
Holly Irene Robinson is a New Zealand para-athlete, primarily competing in the javelin throw. She represented New Zealand at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning silver in 2016 and gold in 2020. At the 2016 Games, she was New Zealand's flagbearer for the opening ceremony.
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.
Brenna Huckaby is an American snowboarder. She competed at the 2018 Winter Paralympics, winning gold medals in the snowboard cross and banked slalom, and she won gold and a bronze medal at the 2022 Winter Paralympics. She is the first Paralympian to appear in the Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated. Huckaby won the 2024 'Best Athlete with a Disability' ESPY Award.
Carlotta Gilli is a partially sighted Italian Paralympic swimmer who competes in international level events. She holds twelve world records in her class. She won five medals at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She repeats herself by winning five medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics too.
Edênia Nogueira Garcia is a Brazilian Paralympic swimmer who competes in international level events. She specializes in the backstroke and has won multiple World and Parapan titles including three Paralympic medals.
Chantal Cavin is a retired Swiss Paralympic swimmer who competed in international elite events. She is a World champion in both long course and short course freestyle swimming, she has also competed at the Paralympic Games three times but narrowly missed out on winning any medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in the 50m and 100m freestyle. Cavin lost her sight at the age of fourteen when she had a concussion following a sporting accident.
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