Odair Santos (born 17 May 1981) is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five silver medals. [1] Santos is also a four time IPC World champion at the 1,500 metres event, being unbeaten from 2006 to 2015.
Santos first represented Brazil at a Paralympic Games when he competed in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. There he won a silver medal in the men's 5000 metres – T12 event, a silver medal in the men's 1500 metres – T13 event, a bronze medal in the men's 800 metres – T12 event and finished fourth in the men's 4 × 100 metre relay – T11–13 event. He also competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. There he won a bronze medal in the men's 800 metres – T12 event, a bronze medal in the men's 5000 metres – T13 event and a bronze medal in the men's 10,000 metres – T12 event. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he won silver in the Men's 1500 metres – T11 event.
In the buildup to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Santos attended the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. There he took gold in the 1500m – T11, but the events of the 5000m – T11 final saw Santos dramatically lose a commanding lead on the last lap. In the closing stages of the race with Santos clear of the rest of the field he fell to the floor with exhaustion, on returning to his feet he was overtaken by Chile's Cristian Valenzuela. Despite the support of his guide, Santos collapsed a second time, and was passed by Jason Dunkerley of Canada. Santos rose again only to collapse meters from the line to lose the bronze medal place to Japan's Shinya Wada. [2]
He holds the 800 m world record for T11 (totally blind) athletes. [3]
Luís Gonçalves is a Portuguese visually-impaired sprint runner, who competes mainly in category T12 events.
Paulo de Almeida Coelho, ComIH is a Paralympic track and field athlete from Portugal competing mainly in category T11 track running events.
Matthias Schröder, also spelled Schroeder, is a visually impaired Paralympic athlete from Germany competing in T12 (track) and F12 (field) events.
Abderrahim Zhiou is a Paralympian athlete from Tunisia competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. He is a six-time Paralympiclympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the Tunisian Federation of Sports for the Disabled team based at Gabès.
Thomas Geierspichler is a Paralympic wheelchair racer from Austria. He competes in the T52 classification.
Jason Joseph Dunkerley is a Canadian Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category T11 and T12 middle-distance events.
Ignacio Ávila Rodríguez is a Paralympian athlete and cyclist from Spain competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events in athletics, and in track time trial, track pursuit, road time trial and road race.
Terezinha Guilhermina is a Paralympic athlete from Brazil competing mainly in category T11 sprint events, T11 being the category for totally blind athletes. She has congenital retinitis pigmentosa, as do five of her twelve brothers.
Ihar Fartunau is a visually impaired Paralympic athlete from Belarus.
Darren Westlake is a paralympic athlete from Great Britain competing mainly in category T12 1500 metre events. Darren has twice competed in the 1500m at the Paralympic games first in 2000 where he won a silver medal and then in the 2004 Summer Paralympics where he did not win a medal.
Noel Thatcher is a British Paralympic runner who represented the United Kingdom at six Paralympic Games between 1984 and 2004, collecting a total of five gold medals. His two career highlights are winning gold and setting a world record at Barcelona in 1992, and winning the 5k race in Sydney in 2000, again setting a world record. At the 2004 Games in Athens, he carried the flag for the Great Britain team at the opening ceremony.
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.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at three Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at each competition. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
Jaryd Clifford is an Australian Paralympic, vision impaired, middle-distance athlete. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics. He won gold medals in the Men's 1500m and 5000m T13 events at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. Clifford represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, where he won silver medals in the Men's 5000m T13 and Men's Marathon T12, and a bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T13.
Jerusa Geber dos Santos is a visually impaired Brazilian sprinter. Competing in the T11 classification, Geber has competed at two Summer Paralympic Games, winning two silver and a bronze medal. She is also a multiple World Championships and Parapan American medalist, taking ten medals over five tournaments. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's 100m T11, and Women's 200m T11.
The T/F 11 categorisation of athletics events, for athletes with the highest level of visual impairment. at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, take place at the Rio Olympic Stadium from September 8. A total of 19 events are contested in the classifications for which T/F11 athletes are eligible. This includes a number of T/F12 events in which T/F11 athletes are entitled to compete.
The Men's 800m athletics events for the 2016 Summer Paralympics took place at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange from September 8 to September 16, 2016. One event was contested over this distance for 19 different classifications.
Semih Deniz is a Turkish Paralympics medalist middle distance runner competing in the T11, T12 and T13 class.
Doniyor Saliev is a visually impaired Uzbekistani Paralympic athlete competing in T12-classification events. He is a two-time bronze medalist at the Summer Paralympics. He is also a two-time gold medalist in the men's long jump T12 event at the World Para Athletics Championships.
