Sporting career
Koleva took up para-sport in Stara Zagora in 1985 out of curiosity. [2] In 1994 she represented Bulgaria at the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin, winning gold in the discus throw and bronze in the javelin. [2] She followed this with further success in the 1998 World Championships in Birmingham, when she took silver in the shot put. [2]
She competed in her first Summer Paralympic Games in 2000 in Sydney. There she entered the discus throw (F58) and the shot put (F57), taking the gold medal in the latter with a distance of 7.85. [2] She would go on to represent her country at the following three Summer Paralympics, but despite entering another nine events, all in field athletics, she failed to repeat the success of her first games. Her best result after 2000 were two sixth places in the 2004 and 2008 games in the shot put, but after Sydney her event was merged with other classification athletes on a points basis, greatly widening the field of competition. [2] At the 2008 Games Koleva also entered the powerlifting tournament in the 67.5 kg event, but failed to complete a successful lift.
Koleva has competed at every IPC World Championship from 1994 to 2015, and in 2016 she entered the 2016 European Games in Grosseto. In the F57 shot put she threw a season's best of 8.50 to take her first major international gold medal for 16 years.
Ilke Wyludda is a discus thrower from Germany.
The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with disabilities competed, and the Championships were a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Eucharia Njideka Iyiazi is a Paralympian athlete from Nigeria competing mainly in category F57/58 shot put and discus throw events. She has competed at four paralympics taking two gold, a silver and two bronze medals.
Nadia Medjmedj is a Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in category F56 shot put and discus throw events.
Marianne Buggenhagen is a Paralympian athlete from Germany competing mainly in throwing events.
Tamara Sivakova is a Paralympian athlete from Belarus competing mainly in the throwing events.
Stela Eneva is a Paralympian athlete from Bulgaria competing mainly in throwing events.
Rostislav Pohlmann is a Paralympian athlete from the Czech Republic competing mainly in category F57 throwing events.
Ntombizanele Situ, better known as Zanele Situ, was a South African Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category F54 throwing events. Specialising in the javelin throw, Situ was a two-time gold medalist at both the Paralympics and the IPC Athletics World Championships and was the first female South African black athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal.
Nathan Stephens is a Welsh former Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category F57–58 throwing events. He was until September 2012 the world record holder in the F57 javelin throw.
Beverley Jones is a Paralympian from Wales competing in category F37 throwing events. Jones won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games as an EAD in the 100m sprint. Jones has qualified for four Summer Paralympics from 2000 to 2012 finishing fourth twice, in the sprint in 2000 at Sydney and in the shot put at Athens in 2004.
Claudiney Batista dos Santos is a Brazilian Paralympian athlete competing in category F57/T57 throwing events. He won a silver medal in the javelin throw at the 2012 Paralympics and a gold medal in the discus throw at the 2016 Rio Games.
Senegal sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the fourth successive appearance for the nation in a Summer Paralympic Games after it debuted at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. Youssouphua Diouf, a javelin thrower, and shot put and discus thrower Daque Diop were the two athletes sent to Rio de Janeiro by Senegal. The delegation failed to win the country's first medal at the Summer Paralympics as its best performance in these Games was Diouf's seventh position in the men's javelin F56-57 event.
Catherine O'Neill born 4 December 1975) is a former Paralympian athlete from Ireland who competed mainly in category F51 track and field events.
Metawa Abouelkhir is a Paralympian athlete from Egypt competing mainly in category F57 throwing events.
Nassima Saifi is a Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in category F58 throwing events. Specialising in both the discus throw and shot put, Saifi is a double Paralympic gold medal winner and three time World Champion.
Diāna Krumina née Dadzīte is a Latvian Paralympic track and field athlete competing in shot put, discus and javelin throw, and is twice Paralympic javelin champion.
Ruzhdi Ruzhdi is a Bulgarian Paralympian track and field athlete, competing in throwing events: javelin throw, shot put, and discus throw. He represented Bulgaria at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning the gold medal in shot put in class F55, and setting a new world record of 12.33 metres (40.5 ft).
Azerbaijan competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Mokhigul Khamdamova is an Uzbekistani Paralympic athlete. She won the gold medal in the women's discus throw F57 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also competed in the women's shot put F57 event.
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