The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. A total of 213 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only 2 sports Americans did not compete in were soccer 5-a-side and 7-a-side. The American delegation included 16 former members of the U.S. military, including 3 veterans of the Iraq War. Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.
The United States competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel from November 4 to 13, 1968. The team finished first out of the twenty-eight competing nations in the medal table and won ninety-nine medals: thirty-three gold, twenty-seven silver and thirty-nine bronze. Eighty-two American athletes took part; fifty-three men and twenty-nine women.
Amanda McGrory is an American wheelchair athlete.
The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. A total of 235 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only sport Americans did not compete in was soccer 5-a-side. The United States finished fourth in the gold and overall medal count, behind China, Great Britain and Canada.
Matt Scott is an American wheelchair basketball player.
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 United States competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9, 2012.
Australia competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The London Games were the biggest Games with 164 nations participating, 19 more than in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games and hosted the 2000 Sydney Games. As such, the 2000 Sydney Games, regarded as one of the more successful Games, became a point-of-reference and an inspiration in the development of the 2012 London Games.
Sarah Stewart is a 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player from Australia. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal; and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal.
Annabel Breuer is a wheelchair fencer and 1.5 point wheelchair basketball player. She has played for SKV Ravensburg and Sabres Ulm in the German wheelchair basketball league. In December 2012 she was contracted to play for first division club RSV Lahn-Dill as well as Sabres Ulm. She has also played the national team, with which she won two European titles, was runner-up at 2010 World Championships, and won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. After the London Games, President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt.
Sharon Hedrick is an American former paralympic swimmer, wheelchair racer and wheelchair basketballer.
Christina Schwab is an American Paralympic basketball player and distance track/road racer.
Stephen Welch is an American wheelchair tennis player.
Cindy Ouellet is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player.
Tracey Ferguson is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. She has won several gold medals including at three different Paralympic Games.
Jeremy "Opie" Lade is an American Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and head coach from Oconto, Wisconsin. He was injured in a car accident at age 8, and attended his first wheelchair sports camp at the age of 13 at UW-Whitewater. He is a two-time Parapan American Games gold medalist in both 2007 and 2011. In 2002, he won a gold medal at IWBF World Championship and in 2006 won a silver one from the same place. Six years later, he was awarded a bronze medal for his participation at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and is currently employed as a head coach at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. From 2005 to 2008 he coached Milwaukee Wizards and led them to a Junior National Championship. In his spare time he likes to watch Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee Brewers with Michael Jordan being his favorite athlete.
Nate Hinze is an American Paralympic wheelchair basketball player from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He is a three-time Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Champion and is 2010 IWBF World Championship bronze medalist. A year later, he was awarded a gold medal at the 2011 Parapan American Games and on 2012 Summer Paralympics he was awarded with another bronze medal. Besides playing sports he also likes to watch them with his favorite teams being the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Wisconsin Badgers. He also likes to play videogames and jet ski. Currently he lives in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin and is a fan of Green Bay Packers and Michael Jordan.
Paul Schulte is an American Paralympic wheelchair basketball player.
John Triscari is an Australian basketball coach. He was the coach of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where the team won a silver medal.
The UT Arlington Mavericks men's wheelchair basketball team, commonly known as the Movin' Mavs and previously known as the UTA Freewheelers, is the men's college wheelchair basketball team representing the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Established in 1976 as the UTA Freewheelers, the team played at the club level against other colleges and universities in Texas during the 1970s and 1980s. It has played under the auspices of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) since 1988, when the team was renamed the Movin' Mavs. Its inaugural coach, from 1976 until 2008, was Jim Hayes. Since 2008, the team has been coached by Doug Garner.
