 Marks in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Ellie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | August 7, 1990 Prescott Valley, Arizona, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 115 lb (52 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sergeant First Class Elizabeth Marks (born August 7, 1990) is an American Paralympic swimmer who specializes in the 100m breaststroke distance.
Marks was born to James Marks, a U.S. Marine veteran who served during the Vietnam War. [1] She graduated high school at age 16 before attending community colleges in Arizona. [2]
Marks joined the U.S. Army in July 2008 aged 17 and earned the military occupational specialty 68W, Health Care Specialist. While deployed in Iraq in 2010 she suffered bilateral hip injuries that left her disabled; she has a tattoo over most of her right leg.
Marks, then known by her married name Elizabeth Wasil, recovered from her injuries, first in Germany, [2] then at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. [1]
While it initially appeared that Marks could be declared unfit for duty by Army medics, she set a goal to become fit for duty. She began swimming as way to complete additional physical therapy and cardio while at BAMC and obtained the fit for duty classification on July 3, 2012. [1]
Marks began competing in swimming competitions shortly after joining the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program in July 2012. [1]
In 2014, during the 2014 Invictus Games, she contracted a severe respiratory infection, which forced doctors at Papworth Hospital, United Kingdom to place her in a medically induced coma for one month. [3] The infection left Marks with a reduced lung capacity and prolonged exercise can affect her vision. [2]
Marks has won a gold medal at the 2015 Military World Games and four gold medals at the 2016 Invictus Games. After the ceremony, she privately asked Prince Harry, who had awarded her her gold medals, if he could present one of her Invictus gold medals to the Doctors and Nurses of Papworth Hospital who had saved her life. She qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics by clocking a time of 1:28.54 at the U.S. trials, which was only 0.01 seconds short of the world record. [3] She won an individual gold and a relay bronze medal at the Paralympics. [4]
In June 2021 the US announced the 34 Paralympic swimmers who would be going to the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo. The women's team was Marks, Jessica Long, McKenzie Coan, Rebecca Meyers and Mallory Weggemann. [5]
On April 14, 2022, Marks was named to the roster to represent the United States at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships. [6] On April 29, 2023, Marks was named to the roster to represent the United States at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships. [7]
Marks is married to former US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal soldier, Mason Heibel. [8]
In 2016, Marks received the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2016 ESPY Awards, and, as of 2022 [update] the only active-duty soldier to receive the award. [9] [10]
In 2017, Marks was inducted into the U.S. Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame. [11]
The Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a female individual from the community of disabled sports. Established with the aid of disability advocate and former United States Paralympic soccer player Eli Wolff, the accolade's trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the disabled sportswomen adjudged to be the best at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was first bestowed as part of the ESPY Awards in 2005 after the non-gender specific Best Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was presented the previous three years. Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.
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 won over 50 world championship medals.
Erin Popovich is a three-time United States Paralympic swimmer. She has won 14 career Paralympic gold medals, and 19 total.
Dame Sophie Frances Pascoe is a New Zealand para-swimmer. She has represented New Zealand at four Summer Paralympic Games from 2008, winning a total of eleven gold medals, seven silver medals and one bronze medal, making her New Zealand's most successful Paralympian. She has also represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.
Yip Pin Xiu is a Singaporean backstroke swimmer. She is a five-time Paralympic gold medallist and 5 time World Champion, with two world records in the 50 m backstroke S2 and the 100 m backstroke S2. Yip is Singapore's most decorated Paralympian.
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.
Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club (PNSC) in Portsmouth, England, is the largest swimming club in South Hampshire. In recent years, the club has been well known for producing Olympic swimmers including Katy Sexton, MBE, and Gemma Spofforth, as well as Paralympic swimmer and triathlete, Lauren Steadman, OBE. Before pool closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the club had 250 members between the ages 7 and 74, and offered 80 training sessions a week led by 10 swimming coaches, plus a strength and conditioning coach. Portsmouth Northsea SC uses four pools across the city, with Mountbatten Leisure Centre as its main base, and offers a Learn to Swim Programme, annual Club Championships, Open Meet competitions, and an Easter Swim Festival. PNSC competes in the Arena League, and has won the trophy for the southern region three times.
Elizabeth Mary Edmondson PLY is an Australian Paralympic competitor and current Australian Masters competitor in swimming. She became a paraplegic after contracting polio as a small child. She won several medals in the 1964 and 1968 Summer Paralympics. She subsequently retired from swimming, only taking up the sport again in 2006 to compete in the 2008 FINA World Masters Championships in Perth.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She has won a world record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's six individual gold medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Maddison Gae Elliott, is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals.
Mallory Weggemann is an American Paralympic swimmer.
Curtis Wain McGrath, is an Australian paracanoeist and former soldier. He took up canoeing competitively after both of his legs were amputated as a result of a mine blast while serving with the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath won consecutive gold medals in the Men's KL2 at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and has won ten gold medals and a silver at ICF Paracanoe World Championships between 2014 and 2019.
Katja Dedekind is an Australian Paralympic vision-impaired swimmer and goalball player. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and two bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Rachael Elizabeth Watson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. Watson represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning gold in the 50m Freestyle S4, a feat she repeated at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Rebecca Meyers is a Paralympic swimmer of the United States. She won three gold and one silver medals in Rio 2016. She was also a member of the 2012 Paralympic Team, and won a silver and bronze in London. Rebecca Meyers has also competed at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics which was held in Taiwan, which is also her only appearance at the Deaflympics. She also clinched a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay event in the 2009 Summer Deaflympics.
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.
Hannah Elizabeth Aspden is an American Paralympic swimmer. She was the youngest swimmer on Team USA to medal at either the Olympics or Paralympics in 2016. During the 2019–20 season at Queens University of Charlotte, Aspden broke two American Paralympic Short Course Meters Swimming records in both the 100-Meter Backstroke and the 100-Meter Freestyle.
Colleen Young is an American swimmer. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She also won bronze medals in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke at the 2015 World Championships She competes in the Paralympic class S13. In 2016 she set a Pan-American record in the 100m breast.
Samantha Bosco is an American Paralympic athlete. She competed in Cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning two bronze medals.
Leanne Smith is an American Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
