Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Nickname | Mita | ||||||||||||||
Born | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | June 30, 1992||||||||||||||
Home town | Randolph, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Country | United States | ||||||||||||||
Sport | Paralympic athletics | ||||||||||||||
Disability class | T64 | ||||||||||||||
Coached by | Sherman Hart | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Femita Ayanbeku (born June 30, 1992) is an American Paralympic athlete of Haitian and Nigerian descent, she competes in sprinting events at international track and field competitions. She is a World bronze medalist and has competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. [1]
In July 2003, eleven year old Ayanbeku and her three sisters and cousins were sitting in the back of her cousin's station wagon travelling on the highway in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Her life changed suddenly when the driver lost control and car struck a guardrail and spun around, forcing the doors open. Ayanbeku and one of her sisters were thrown out of the car onto the side of the highway. Ayanbeku's severe injuries required the amputation of her right leg below the knee. [2] [3] [4]
Following her recovery from the car accident, Ayanbeku tried out basketball in her first year at high school but only did the sport for a short period of time because she had too much discomfort on her prosthetic. She was introduced to the sport by Jerome Singleton when she visited a para track and field open event in November 2015, and introduced his coach Sherman Hart to her. Hart found that Ayanbeku had a raw talent for track and field, so Hart and Singleton took Ayanbeku to one of their training sessions. Ayanbeku describes running as feeling natural and felt that she had two feet again. Hart highly encouraged her to go to Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2016 US Paralympic Team Trials in late June 2016. Ayanbeku successfully qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the 100 metres and 200 metres. [5]
She qualified for 2020 Summer Paralympics in the 100 metres and 200 metres again, she ran well in her heats but couldn't compete in the finals due to testing positive for COVID-19. [6]
Just six months after giving birth to her daughter, Ayanbeku qualified for the 2024 Paralympics.
John McFall is a British Paralympic sprinter, surgeon, and ESA Project astronaut. In November 2022, he was selected by the European Space Agency to become the first "parastronaut". ESA will do a feasibility study on him flying to space and what needs to be adapted for disabled people.
Elizabeth Gemma 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.
Sanaa Benhama is a Paralympic athlete from Morocco competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. She has competed at two Summer Paralympics, most notably at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China where she won three gold medals dominating the sprint field in her class.
Tatyana McFadden is an American Paralympic athlete competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games and the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2015.
El Salvador first competed in the Paralympic Games at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia. It has participated in the Summer Paralympic Games every four years since that time. El Salvador has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics, and until Tokyo 2020, no Salvadorian had won a Paralympic medal. In 2021, Herbert Aceituno became the first athlete to win a medal, earning bronze in powerlifting at the 59 kg category.
Richard Whitehead MBE is a British athlete. He runs with prosthetic legs, as he has a double through-knee congenital amputation.
Carlee Beattie is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. A congenital arm amputee, she won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in the Women's Long Jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Rosemary Little is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She won a bronze medal in wheelchair racing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and has also competed in handcycling. She competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, her third Games, where switched from wheelchair racing to shot put. She has been selected to compete in the shot put at the selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification and TV presenter.
Olivia Breen is a Welsh Paralympian athlete, who competes for Wales and Great Britain mainly in T38 sprint and F38 long jump events. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and was selected for the T38 100m and 200m sprint and was also part of the T35-38 women's relay team. She has also represented Wales at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games winning gold in the F38 Long Jump in 2018 and gold in the T37/38 100m in 2022.
Jenny McLoughlin is a British Paralympian track and field athlete competing mainly in T37 sprint events. She has represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Paralympics and in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. After moving to Wales at the age of 14, she became eligible to join the Wales team for the Commonwealth Games, winning silver in the T37 sprint in India.
Maya Nakanishi is a Paralympic athlete from Japan, competing in category T44 sprint and long jump events. She was born in Ōsaka, Ōsaka Prefecture, and played soft tennis competitively.
Sophie Megan Hahn, is a parasport athlete from England competing mainly in T38 sprint events. In 2013, she qualified for the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, selected for the T38 100m and 200m. She took the gold in the 100m sprint, setting a new world record.
Kadeena Cox is a parasport athlete competing in T38 para-athletics sprint events and C4 para-cycling and British television presenter. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, in which she won world titles in the T37 100m and C4 500m time trial respectively.
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.
Karé Adenegan is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She was classified as a disability athlete in 2013.
Lynda Hamri is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in T12 classification sprint and long jump events. Hamri represented Algeria at two Summer Paralympics, winning a silver in the long jump at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and a bronze in the same event four years later in Rio de Janeiro. Hamri has also won two silver medals at the IPC World Championships, both in the long jump, at Lyon in 2013 and at Doha in 2015.
Cyprus sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the island country's eighth consecutive appearance in a Summer Paralympiad having made its debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics. The Cypriot delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: sprinter Antonis Aresti and short-distance swimmer Karolina Pelendritou. Aresti placed sixth overall in the men's 400 metres T47 event and Pelendritou came fourth in the 100 metres breaststroke SB13 competition after losing the bronze medal by 20 cm (7.9 in) in the final.
Irmgard Bensusan is a South African born Paralympic sprinter who now competes for Germany, mainly in T44 classification events. Bensusan competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics where she won three silver medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metre sprints.
Marissa Papaconstantinou is a Canadian Paralympic athlete who competes in the 100m T64 in international level events. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in 100m T64 and 200m T64.