| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | September 12, 1989 Tacoma, Washington |
| Education | 2010, Tacoma Community College B.A., M.A., University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Height | 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) |
| Weight | 115lb (52kg) |
Megan Blunk (born September 12, 1989) is an American wheelchair basketball player for the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team. She won a gold medal for Team USA during the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Blunk was born September 12, 1989, in Tacoma, Washington to parents Wendy Ricketts and David Blunk. [1] After graduating from Peninsula High School in 2008, Blunk became paralyzed from the waist down due a motorcycle crash. [2] Following this, two of her friends committed suicide, which increased her depression. [3] Despite this, Blunk accepted a placement at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign's women's wheelchair basketball team. [4] It was during summer break from the University of Illinois that Blunk began para-canoeing at the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Club. [5]
In 2013, she competed with Team USA at the ParaCanoe World Championships, where she won two silver medals [6] However, after qualifying for the final roster with the 2015 United States women's national wheelchair basketball team, she competed in the 2015 Parapan American Games, and later tried out for the United States para-canoe trials. [5] With Team USA, Blunk helped take home a gold medal under coach Stephanie Wheeler. [7]
Deciding to stick with basketball, Blunk helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics by beating Germany 62–45 in the medal finals. [8] In 2018, Blunk participated in former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick's viral Nike commercial. [9]
Steven Serio is a wheelchair basketball player. As a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team, he led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.
Wheelchair basketball at the 1960 Summer Paralympics consisted of two men's tournaments. One for athletes with complete lesion paraplegia, and one for athletes with incomplete paraplegia.
Matt Scott is an American wheelchair basketball player.
Mackenzie Soldan is an American wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis player. She represented the United States at the 2011 Parapan American Games where she won two gold medals, 2012 London Paralympics in wheelchair tennis and 2016 Rio Paralympics in wheelchair basketball. She has played for the U.S. women's wheelchair basketball team since 2013.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed, under the name Great Britain, at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places for which the team qualified were for six athletes in sailing events.
Canada competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Australia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. Australia repeated its 2012 Summer Paralympics achievement in finishing fifth of the medal tally.
Joy Haizelden is a 2.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who was the youngest player to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
The United States men's national wheelchair basketball team began in 1955 when the Pam Am Jets brought wheelchair basketball to Europe at the International Stoke Mandville Games, albeit in the form of netball. Shortly following the Pan Am Jets' dominating performance at the International Stoke Mandville Games, wheelchair netball was switched to wheelchair basketball for all future Games.
Australia participated at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. It sent its largest away team - 179 athletes to a Summer Paralympics. Australia finished eighth on the gold medal table and sixth on the total medals table.
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.
Abigail Dunkin is an American 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player who won gold at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada, the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Suphanburi, Thailand.
Desiree Miller is a paralympic athlete from United States of America competing mainly in wheelchair basketball. Miller is the oldest of four children from Eugene and Denise Miller, and has a rare form of spina bifida. Miller believed her disability would bar her from sports activities until she discovered wheelchair basketball.
Megan Fisher is a Canadian-American Paralympic athlete. She has won one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal for Team USA at the Paralympic Games.
The United States women's national wheelchair basketball team began in the mid-1960s. The first women's team to compete alongside men in the Paralympic Games was in the inaugural 1968 tournament. A few years later in 1977, a women's wheelchair basketball division was created in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA).
Lawrence "Trooper" Johnson is a Hall of Fame wheelchair basketball player, former head coach for the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team, and currently serves as the head coach for both the South African National wheelchair basketball program and the BORP adaptive youth basketball team in the Bay Area. He won a bronze medal with Team USA at the 1996 Summer Paralympics and 2000 Summer Paralympics, and a gold medal during the 1992 Summer Paralympics which was later stripped due to a teammate using banned pain medications. He serves as the logo for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and was known throughout his career as the Michael Jordan of wheelchair basketball due to his in-game dominance and obsessive attitude towards success both on and off the court.
The UT Arlington Movin' Mavs men's wheelchair basketball team, 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. The team was coached by Doug Garner from 2008 until 2022 when he retired. In fall of 2022, Aaron Gouge was hired as the new head coach for the team.
Darlene Hunter is an American wheelchair basketball player. She is a member of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team.
Matthew Lesperance is an American wheelchair basketball player and a member of the United States men's national wheelchair basketball team. Lesperance has represented the United States at the Paralympic Games twice, finishing in fourth place in 2008, and winning a gold medal in 2020.
