Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | November 1958 (age 65–66) Philadelphia, United States |
Alma mater | Rowan College Immaculata College |
Sport | |
Country | United States |
Sport | Paralympic athletics Adaptive rowing |
Disability | Multiple sclerosis |
Disability class | F53 |
Event(s) | Pentathlon Javelin throw Discus throw Shot put |
Medal record |
Laura Gene Schwanger (born 1958 [1] ) is a retired American Paralympic athlete and adaptive rower. She has competed at three Paralympic Games in track and field and returned twelve years later to compete in rowing at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. She is a four time Paralympic champion including six silver medals and one bronze medal in athletics and won a bronze medal in rowing. [2] [3]
After graduating from Washington Township High School, New Jersey in 1977, Schwanger joined the United States Army and became a meteorological observer. [4] She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1981 while on active duty.
She took up athletics soon after then retired after the 1996 Summer Paralympics, she took up rowing in later 2006 after receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. [5] [6]
She studied physical education at Glassboro State College, which became Rowan College during her time there. She earned a master's degree in counseling and psychology at Immaculata College.
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.
Liudmila Vauchok is Belarusian Paralympian. She competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal, and at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning a bronze medal. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 with the exception of the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Jessica Gallagher is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.
Oksana Oleksandrivna Masters is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She was also a part of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics. She won two Paralympic medals in 2014 and five Paralympic medals in 2018, including two gold. She switched to para-cycling after the 2012 Paralympics and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometres, sitting.
Maria Lyle is a retired para-athlete from Scotland who competed mainly in T35 sprint events. At the age of 14 she set a world record in the 200m sprint, a record she has broken on several occasions. In 2014, she qualified for the IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea and won gold in both the 100m and 200m T35.
Jacqueline "Jacqui" Kapinowski is a two-time American Paralympian who competed in wheelchair curling at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and in rowing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Laura Sugar is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in sprint events under the T44 classification. Before taking up athletics Sugar represented Wales at field hockey captaining the under-20s team. She has now switched to canoeing.
Robert Griswold is an American swimmer. He was a member of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Teams. He holds multiple American and world paralympic swimming records in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and individual medleys. He competes in the Paralympic classes S8/SB7/SM8, and has cerebral palsy that affects coordination and strength. The United States Center for SafeSport temporarily suspended Griswold in 2020, reinstated him prior to the 2021 Paralympic Games, and then temporarily suspended him again in 2022, after he was accused of raping a fellow member of the US Paralympic Team at the 2021 Paralympic Games and thereafter; Griswold was later removed as a member of the US National Team.
Angela Madsen was an American Paralympian sportswoman in both rowing and track and field. In a long career, Madsen moved from race rowing to ocean challenges before switching in 2011 to athletics, winning a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Madsen and teammate Helen Taylor were the first women to row across the Indian Ocean. She died in June 2020 while attempting a solo row from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Great Britain competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 21 August and 6 September 2020, the Games were postponed to 24 August to 5 September 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. British athletes have competed at all sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021. The delegation includes 33 athletes – 18 women and 15 men – competing in 11 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, goalball, paracanoeing, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.
Chelsea McClammer is an American Paralympic athlete with Team USA, she has won two silver medals and one bronze at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Samantha Bosco is an American Paralympic athlete. She competed in Cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning two bronze medals.
Sydney Barta is an American track and field athlete. An amputee, she competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. In 2019, she was awarded US Paralympics Track and Field Female High School Athlete of the Year.
Taleah Williams is an American Paralympic athlete specializing in long jump.