Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Dublin, Ireland | 14 September 1997|||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Paralympic athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability | Stargardt's disease | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability class | T13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 100 metres 200 metres | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Raheny Shamrock Athletics Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Orla Comerford (born 14 September 1997) is an Irish Paralympic athlete who competes in sprinting events at the international level. [1] [2] [3] She has Stargardt's disease, which is an inherited retinal disease. Its main symptom is loss of visual acuity, uncorrectable with glasses. [4] [5]
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, have been held shortly after the corresponding Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Elizabeth Gemma Clegg, is a British Paralympic sprinter and tandem track cyclist who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.
Jason Smyth is an Irish retired sprint runner. He competes in the T13 disability sport classification as he is legally blind, with his central vision being affected by Stargardt's disease; he also competes in elite non-Paralympic competition. As of July 2014, Smyth holds T13 World records in the 100m and 200m events.
Aimee Mullins is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs beneath the knee. She is the first amputee to compete against nondisabled athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association events, and competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta. In 1999, she began modeling, and, in 2002, she began an acting career. She has periodically spoken at conferences, including TED Talks.
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Ilse Hayes, also known as Ilse Carstens, is a Paralympian athlete from South Africa competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. Hayes has competed for her country at four Summer Paralympics beginning with the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. She has won medals at each of the four games including two gold medals, both in the long jump, at Beijing (2008) and London (2012). As well as her Paralympic success Hayes is a multiple medal winner at World Championship level.
Jonathan Peacock MBE is an English sprint runner. An amputee, Peacock won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event. He won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
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Orla Barry is an Irish discus thrower. Barry was born in Ladysbridge, County Cork, Republic of Ireland and competes in the F57 classification. She has won two Paralympic medals, and is a three time European champion in the event. On 13 January 2020, Barry announced her retirement from Paralympic sports.
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Zac Shaw is a British Paralympic visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 classification. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. He made his first Great Britain squad for the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2015. Shaw made the Great Britain squad for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris after just missing out on both the 2016 Summer Paralympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Vanessa Low is a German-born Australian Paralympic athlete competing in T42 sprint and long jump events. Born in East Germany, she gained Australian nationality in June 2017.
Peter Genyn is a Paralympian sportsman from Belgium. Initially Genyn competed as a wheelchair rugby player before switching to track and field athletics in 2014 where he competes in category T51 sprint events. In 2016 he became the world record holder in the T51 men's 400 metres sprint.
Nassima Saifi is a Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in category F58 throwing events. Specialising in both the discus throw and shot put, Saifi is a double Paralympic gold medal winner and three time World Champion.
The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was the tenth edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five continents and served as a qualifying event for Paralympic swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. The event was sponsored by Allianz.
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