Gabriel "Gaby" Macchi (born 2 October 1975) is a Paralympicathlete from Portugal competing mainly in category T12 long-distance events.[1] Macchi has competed in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics, and has won medals at both European and World IPC championships.
Macchi was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975. He began running at the age of 14 to accompany his father who was a keen marathon competitor.[2][bettersourceneeded] As a youth he was diagnosed with juvenile glaucoma and his eyesight progressively worsened into his adulthood.[1] Macchi began competing in long-distance racing in 2006 and due to his visual impairment was classified as a T12 disability athlete.[1] He impressed enough at country level to be immediately accepted to represent Portugal at the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships in Assen. There he entered both the 5,000m and 10,000m races, finishing seventh in both.[1] In 2008 he was again selected for the Portuguese team, this time to travel to Beijing to compete in the Summer Paralympics. In Beijing he entered both the 10,000m which he failed to complete, and the joint T11/12 marathon, in which he finished 14th.[1]
In 2011 Macchi travelled to New Zealand to take part in the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championship at Christchurch. There he entered the marathon but he was unable to complete the course. Macchi had better success the following year in the 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships where he came third in the 5,000m, his first major international medal. 2012 also saw Macchi enter his second Paralympic Games, one of three Portuguese competitors in the T12 marathon. Macchi recorded a season's best of 2:40:13 to finish sixth. In his third World Championships, held in Lyon in 2013, he again challenged for the T12 marathon. On this occasion he finished third to take the bronze medal.[1]
Rochelle "Shelly" Woods is an elite British Paralympic athlete from the suburb of Layton in Blackpool, Lancashire. Woods is a T54 athlete who competes as a wheelchair racer in medium and long-distance events. She has competed in two Paralympic Games, Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, where she won three medals. She is also a world-class marathon athlete, winning the women's elite wheelchair race at the 2007 and 2012 London Marathon.
David Russell Weir is a British Paralympic wheelchair athlete. He has won a total of six gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games, and has won the London Marathon on eight occasions. He was born with a spinal cord transection that left him unable to use his legs.
Abderrahim Zhiou is a Paralympian athlete from Tunisia competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. He is a six-time Paralympiclympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the Tunisian Federation of Sports for the Disabled team based at Gabès.
Odair Santos is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five silver medals. Santos is also a four time IPC World champion at the 1,500 metres event, being unbeaten from 2006 to 2015.
Tofiri Kibuuka is an Ugandan-born Norwegian athlete. He has participated in both the Winter Paralympic Games, in cross-country skiing and in the Summer Paralympic Games, in mid- and long-distance running. Active from 1976 to 2000, he won five Paralympic silver medals, and one bronze.
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.
Panama made its Paralympic Games début at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, with a delegation of two competitors in athletics. It has participated in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, but never in the Winter Paralympics. Panamanian delegations have always been small, never consisting in more than two competitors.
Said Gomez is a Panamanian athlete. Visually impaired, having "lost his sight at a young age", he has represented Panama at five consecutive editions of the Summer Paralympic Games. He has won a total of eight Paralympic medals, of which three gold, and is the only Panamanian ever to have medalled at the Paralympic Games.
Andrea Cionna is an Italian athlete from Osimo in the Province of Ancona. He holds the world record for the fastest marathon run by a totally blind man, set in 2:31:59 in Rome in 2007, and has won two bronze medals in blind long-distance running at the Paralympic Games.
Elena Pautova is a Paralympian athlete from Russia competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. She is a two times Paralympic gold medalist and three times World Championship gold medalist in the 1500m race. Pautova also broke the world record in the T13 5000m event in 2003.
Marcel Eric Hug is a Paralympic athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 5000m.
Kenya competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom from August 29 to September 9, 2012, where they were represented by thirteen athletes who won six medals at these games, two gold, two silver and two bronze. All the country's Paralympians competed in athletics. Kenya had originally qualified a larger team, and in more sports like powerlifting and rowing.
Alberto Suárez Laso is a T12 athlete from Spain who competes in long-distance events like the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, half marathon and marathon. He is a world record holder in the men's T12 marathon, winning gold in the event at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at three Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at each competition. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
Almaz Ayana Eba is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze in the 5,000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Almaz is a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist earning a bronze for the 5,000m in 2013, gold at the event in 2015 as well as gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m in 2017.
Maritza Arango Buitrago is a middle-distance para-sport athlete from Colombia who competes mainly in middle-distance events in the T11 category. She has represented Colombia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and has won silver in the 800m at two consecutive IPC Athletics World Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo is a Kenyan born American track and field athlete. He is the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist in the 5000 meters and is known for his success at the highest level of athletics and controversial racing tactics.
Jaryd Clifford is an Australian Paralympic, vision impaired, middle-distance athlete. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics. He won gold medals in the Men's 1500m and 5000m T13 events at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. Clifford represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where he won silver medals in the Men's 5000m T13 and Men's Marathon T12, and a bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T13. He has been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu is a visually impaired South African sprinter. Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu is currently South Africa's fastest ever para-athlete. His 10.80 was posted on April 12, 2018, during the heats of the Commonwealth Games. Competing in the T12 classification, Ntutu has competed at three Summer Paralympic Games, winning bronze in the 2012 Games in London. He is also a multiple World Championships winner, taking five medals over four tournaments.
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