| Kenya at the 2000 Summer Paralympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IPC code | KEN |
| NPC | Kenya National Paralympic Committee |
| in Sydney | |
| Competitors | 13 in 1 sport |
| Medals Ranked 46th |
|
| Summer Paralympics appearances (overview) | |
Kenya competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. They were represented by 13 sportspeople, 5 women and 8 men, at the Sydney, Australia hosted Games. Kenyan Paralympians won four medals at these games, one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Kenya was represented by 5 women and 8 men at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. [1] [2] The team included athlete Henry Wanyoike, Mary Nakhumicha, [3] [4] [5] and Evelyne Khatsembula.
A number of factors have impacted the development of elite disability sport in Kenya in this period. One factor was negative cultural attitudes towards people with disabilities in general that made it difficult to participate, even if the athlete had won a Commonwealth Games medal. A second variable was coaching issues. These included poor qualifications for coaches, lack of funding for coaches, inconsistent coaching or coaches having hidden agendas for being involved in para-sport, such as a desire to travel overseas. A third issue was lack of available equipment to train with. Part of this was because of the high cost of specialized equipment. Another part was a desire not to spend money on people with disabilities as they are less worthy of the funding. A fourth issue is that facilities are often not accessible to people with disabilities. Sometimes, venues do not want to let people with disabilities use them. Sometimes, facilities lack accommodations for people with disabilities. A fifth problem was transportation. Transportation around cities is often not handicap accessible, making it difficult for elite athletes to get to training venues. Ethnic favoritism was a sixth problem impacting elite para-sport. There was a perception among elite athletes that the government and sporting officials favored certain ethnic groups. According to one elite athlete, for the 2004 Games, the team was dominated by ethnic Luo. For the 2008 Games, the trend was towards ethnic Kikuyu. In athletics, the preference tended to be towards Kalenjin. The last major issue was lack of financial support for participating in sport at the elite level. More Kenyans would have tried to represent their country at the Paralympic level, but they were unable to afford it despite the desire to do so. [6] [7]
The above existed against a broad issue about perceptions in Black Africa about people with disabilities. In many parts of Black Africa, people who have disabilities that include intellectual disabilities, and physical disabilities such as impairments and deformities often face cultural barriers to participation because of attitudes related to their disabilities. These include beliefs that they acquired their disabilities because their parents were witches or they are wizards. Their disability is often seen as a result of a personal failing on their part. As such, there is often tremendous cultural pressure for people with physical disabilities to remain hidden and out of the public eye. In many places, they are perceived to be monsters in need of healing. [6] [7] [8] In a Kenyan context, the "bad blood" of people with disabilities is thought to also impact their families, creating further stigma for the person with the disability. [8]
Kenyan Paralympians won four medals at these games, one gold, one silver and two bronze. [4] [9]
| Medal | Name | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
 Gold | Henry Wanyoike | Athletics | Men's 5000m T11 |
 Silver | Mary Nakhumicha | Athletics | Women's javelin F58 |
 Bronze | Evelyne Khatsembula | Athletics | Women's 100m T37 |
| Bronze | Mary Nakhumicha | Athletics | Women's shot put F57 |
Making his Paralympic debut, Henry Wanyoike competed in the 5,000 m event, and won gold in a race where his guide runner collapsed at the finish line. [3] [5] His victory was the first by an African athlete in his category in the 5,000m. Following the Games, he was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior Award (OGW) by President Moi. [3] Wanyoike, an active athlete in his childhood, had a stroke in 1995 when he was 20 years old, which left him blind soon afterwards. [5]
Mary Nakhumicha, building on her success at the 1996 Atlanta Games, won silver in the javelin throw and bronze in the shot put in her category. [4]
Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach.
Stephen Robert Eaton, OAM is an Australian athlete with cerebral palsy from Toowoomba, Queensland who competes at the national and international level in discus throwing and shot put at events such as the Paralympic Games and IPC Athletics World Championships.
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
Stephen James Miller MBE is a British athlete who competes in the fields of Paralympic club and discus throwing. He has won three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the F32/51 club throw at the Paralympics. In Paralympic F32/51 discus he won one bronze medal.
Siobhan Bethany Paton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who was born in Sydney. Paton has had an intellectual disability from birth which was a consequence a lack of oxygen. Paton decided to become a swimmer after finding out she has a connective tissue disorder and that swimming would assist in the strengthening of her joints. Siobhan initially began competing with non-disabled athletes and only in 1997 did she compete in a competition for athletes with disabilities, where she won seven gold medals and one silver medal. As of 2004, she holds thirteen world records in her disability class of S14.
Trischa Zorn is an American Paralympic swimmer. Blind from birth, she competed in Paralympic swimming. She is the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games, having won 55 medals, and was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2012. She took the Paralympic Oath for athletes at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta.
Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian teams that participate at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
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.
Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes. Australian competitors won 101 medals to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table. Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird. The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities. The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.
John Desmond Eden is a leg-amputee athlete and Australian and New Zealand Paralympian.
Hamish Anderson MacDonald, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Melbourne and lives in Canberra. He has cerebral palsy. His achievements and advocacy have made him one of Australia's most respected Paralympians.
Jacqueline Rose "Jacqui" Freney is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2012 London Games, she broke Siobhan Paton's Australian record of six gold medals at a single Games by winning her seventh gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S7. She finished the Games with eight gold medals, more than any other participant in the Games.
Kenya competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Their delegation included 16 athletes, 8 men and 8 women, who won 3 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. Institutional problems inside Kenyan elite disability sport impact the country's performance at the Paralympic Games.
Kenya competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The country sent a 17 strong athlete delegation to Atlanta, United States.
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.
Brayden Duane Davidson is an Australian track and field para-athlete who competes mainly in the T36 classification events. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's Long Jump T36.
The United Arab Emirates sent athletes to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Namibia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Kenya competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Kenya competed at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, Spain. 15 competitors from Kenya won 2 medals, 1 gold and 1 bronze to finish 41st in the medal table. 13-year-old Mary Nakhumica made her Paralympic debut, winning Kenya's only gold in the women's javelin throw THW7 event.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)