Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Deborah Willows |
Nickname | Debbie |
Born | London, Ontario, Canada | 29 March 1961
Other interests | Wrote a novel about her journey with Cerebral Paisley in 2013 titled, "Living Beyond My Circumstances: The Deborah Willows Story"≥÷ |
Sport | |
Country | Canada |
Sport | Wheelchair Soccer, Swimming, Slalom & Boccia |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | Gold medal Paralympic Athlete and broke a world record in 50m Backstroke |
Medal record |
Deborah Willows (born 29 March 1961) [1] is a paralympic athlete from Canada competing mainly in category C1 events.
Willows competed in the 1984 Summer Paralympics in athletics, boccia and swimming. Her best result came in swimming, winning a gold medal in the Women's 25 m Freestyle with Aids C1. Her other medals came when she won bronze in the women's C1 boccia, and in distance and precision throwing events, she won bronze and silver respectively. Willows also competed in the 1988 Summer Paralympics.
Willows was inducted into the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association Hall of Fame in 2007. [2]
Boccia has been contested at the Summer Paralympics since the 1984 Games in New York City and Stoke Mandeville. Five boccia events were held at those games, two for men, two for women, and one mixed event where men and women competed together. Since then, all boccia events at the Paralympics have been mixed. Athletes in this sport have cerebral palsy and are given a classification according to the extent of their disability. There were originally two classes, C1 and C2, with C1 corresponding to those with more severe impairment. In 1996 a "C1 with aid device" class was added, and in 2000 the system was changed to have four classes, BC1 through BC4.
Argentina competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team finished ninth in the medal table and won a total of 30 medals; 10 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
The 1996 Summer Paralympics were held in the United States city of Atlanta. Australia competed in 13 of the 17 sports, winning medals in 10 of those sports. At the 1996 Summer Paralympics, Australia had the second highest medal tally of any country competing. It won 42 gold, 37 silver and 27 bronze medals. It surpassed the 24 gold medals that Australia won at the 1992 Paralympics. The sports of athletics, swimming and cycling provided Australia with the majority of its medals.
Zoe Robinson is a British boccia player who won a gold medal in the Team BC1–2 event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. She went on to win a bronze in the same event at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, UK.
Lynette Coleman was an Australian Paralympic boccia player, athlete and swimmer with cerebral palsy.
Tom Leahy is a paralympic athlete from Ireland competing mainly in category BC2 Boccia events and F32 throwing events. Leahy competed in eight Paralympic Games. He won three Paralympic gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Teigan Van Roosmalen is an Australian Paralympic S13 swimmer. She has Usher Syndrome type 1 legally blind and Profoundly deaf. She had a swimming scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport 2009-2012. Her events are the 100 m breaststroke, 200 m individual medley, 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She competed at the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, where she won a gold medal in the S13 400 freestyle event. She competed at the 2008 Summer and 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Taylor Corry is an Australian S14 swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two silver medals.
Amanda Reid is an Australian Paralympic swimmer, cyclist and snowboarder. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, she won a silver medal in the Women's 500 m Time Trial C1–3 and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics a gold medal in the 500 m Time Trial C1–3. In 2023, she won a gold medal at the 2023 World Para Snowboard Championships.
Susannah Elizabeth Joy Rodgers, is a British Paralympic swimmer. She competes in S7 classification events and won three bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and a gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Aurélie Rivard is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer. After winning three Paralympics gold medals, claiming a silver Paralympic medal and setting two World Records and a Paralympic Record at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the Paraswimmer was named Canada's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
Henrik Jorgensen is a Danish Paralympic athlete and boccia player who has competed in five Paralympic Games.
Russell Cecchini is a paralympic athlete from Canada competing mainly in category C1 events.
Terry Hudson is a paralympic athlete from Great Britain competing mainly in category C1 events.
Laura Misciagna is a paralympic athlete from Canada competing mainly in category C2 events.
Arlene Aikenhead is a Canadian Paralympic equestrian and boccia player from Alberta.
Cristina Gonçalves is a Portuguese boccia player who has cerebral palsy, She has competed for her country and won medals at several Summer Paralympics.
Susana Cristina Carvalheira Barroso is a retired Portuguese Paralympic swimmer and boccia player who competes in international level events. She was the first Portuguese swimmers to win a medal in swimming at the Summer Paralympics and was the most medalled female Paralympian for her country.
Jamieson Leeson is an Australian boccia player. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She won a gold and silver medal at the 2022 World Championsips.