Cyril Jonard is a French judoka. He competes in judo events for the visually impaired and blind. Jonard has Usher syndrome; he is both deaf and visually impaired. He competes against non-deaf judoka.
Lauren Woolstencroft is a Canadian alpine skier and electrical engineer. Born missing her left arm below the elbow as well as both legs below the knees, she began skiing at the age of 4 and began competitive skiing at the age of 14. She is an eight-time gold medal winner at the Paralympics. In 1998, she was nicknamed "Pudding" by her teammates, due to her sweet tooth. Her life and achievements were celebrated in the Toyota ad "Good Odds" that aired just after kickoff during Super Bowl LII in February 2018.
The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award is named after South Korean Dr. Whang Youn Dai, who contracted polio at the age of three. She devoted her life to the development of paralympic sport in Korea and around the world. At the 1988 Paralympic Summer Games in Seoul, Korea, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) recognized her lifelong contributions to the Paralympic Movement and established the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award. Since then, this award has been presented at every Paralympic Games to one male and one female athlete who each "best exemplify the spirit of the Games and inspire and excite the world".
Greg Edgelow is a retired freestyle wrestler from Canada and is a nationally certified Wrestling Coach and Indigenous Coach with Cree Ancestral Heritage and European mix. In 2018, Greg was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Indigenous Gallery and 2024 inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. He represented Canada at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and won a bronze medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, two bronze medals at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba and a gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. Greg also added two more silver medals at the 1991 and 1992 Pan American Championships. He is an eight-time Canadian senior champion. Edgelow is the only Canadian to win a medal in wrestling (bronze) at the Goodwill Games ever. He is also the only Canadian wrestler to win four separate consecutive senior weight classes in Freestyle. His last national title was in 1998, the same year that he represented Canada at the World Championships in Tehran, Iran.
The Canadian Paralympic Committee is the private, non-profit organization representing Canadian Paralympic athletes in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Parapan American Games. It represents 25 member sports organisations.
Colette Bourgonje (ber-gon-yah) is a Canadian Paralympic cross-country skier and athlete of Métis heritage. She has won four bronze medals in Summer Paralympics and medals in Winter Paralympics for skiing.
Said Gomez is a Panamanian athlete. Visually impaired, having "lost his sight at a young age", he has represented Panama at five consecutive editions of the Summer Paralympic Games. He has won a total of eight Paralympic medals, of which three gold, and is the only Panamanian ever to have medalled at the Paralympic Games.
Mark Berger is a Ukrainian-born Canadian judoka. He won the gold medal in the men's heavyweight judo event at the 1983 Pan American Games and a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He also competed in sambo, winning silver at the 1988 World Championships.
The Japanese martial art and combat sport judo has been practised in Canada for over a century. The first long-term judo dojo in Canada, Tai Iku Dojo, was established by a Japanese immigrant named Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki in Vancouver in 1924. Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia and even trained RCMP officers until 1942, when Japanese Canadians were expelled from the Pacific coast and either interned or forced to move elsewhere in Canada due to fears that they were a threat to the country after Japan entered the Second World War. When the war was over, the government gave interned Japanese Canadians two options: resettle in Canada outside of the 'Japanese exclusion zone' or emigrate to Japan.
Eddie Morten, also spelled 'Eddy', is a Canadian Paralympic athlete who won bronze in the 5 km Walk in 1980, gold in the -65 kg category in Wrestling in 1984, and bronze in Judo in the -71 kg category in Judo in 1988. Morten has been the Coordinator of the Deafblind Services Society of British Columbia's Volunteer Intervention Program since 2007, and in 2009 was awarded the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing's Award of Merit for his advocacy on behalf of the deaf-blind community. He is the younger brother of Pier Morten, another successful Canadian Paralympian. Morten was born deaf but with good vision, which has gradually deteriorated due to Usher Syndrome. He is now completely blind in his left eye and has severely limited vision in his right eye.
Tony Walby is a Canadian judoka who represented Canada in Judo at the 2012 Paralympics in the +100 kg category and - 90kg division in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. He won his first match, lost his second, and was then eliminated in repêchage.
Justin Karn is a Canadian judoka who represented Canada in Judo at the 2012 Paralympics in the -60 kg category. He was eliminated from the tournament in repêchage due to disqualification by penalties in his match against South Korea's Min-Jae Lee. Karn has been competing in Judo for around 18 years, and in 2011 won bronze in the -60 kg category of the Parapan American Games. He was born with aniridia, an eye condition that left him without irises, and also has astigmatism and mutated corneas in both eyes.
Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki was a Japanese and Canadian judoka who founded the first judo club in Canada and is considered the 'Father of Canadian Judo'. After establishing the Tai Iku Dojo in Vancouver in 1924, Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia and also trained RCMP officers until 1942, when Japanese Canadians were expelled from the Pacific coast and either interned or forced to move elsewhere in Canada due to fears that they were a threat to the country after Japan entered the Second World War. When the war was over, the government required interned Japanese Canadians to either resettle in Canada outside of British Columbia's 'Japanese exclusion zone' or emigrate to Japan.
William "Bill" Morgan is a Canadian judoka who represented Canada in Judo at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Paralympics. He placed seventh in the -81 kg category, fifth in the -81 kg category, and seventh in the -100 kg category, respectively, and in 2004 and 2008 was Canada's only competitor in Judo. Morgan won bronze at the International Blind Sports World Championships in 2006.
Shelley Morten is a retired Canadian wrestler, current wrestling coach, and documentary film director and producer. As a competitor, Morten won gold in the Canadian Wrestling Championships three times and represented Canada at the World Wrestling Championships in 1995, placing seventh. She was BC Wrestling Women's Senior Athlete of the year 1995. After retiring from competition, Morten became a coach for the British Columbia women's wrestling team, and won the BC Blind Sports President's Award in 1999. She is a co-founder of VanWestFilm Productions, which recently released a documentary titled Wrestling With Attitude (2012) about the evolution of women's wrestling in Canada. Morten is married to deaf-blind judoka and wrestler Pier Morten, who has won four medals at the Paralympic Games.
Bibian Mentel-Spee was a Dutch three-fold Winter Paralympics gold-medalist, and five-times world champion para-snowboarding athlete. Mentel won the Paralympic gold medal in the snowboard cross discipline in the 2014 and 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, as well as in the banked slalom in 2018, despite battling cancer nine times since the beginning of the century. She won her 2018 medals at age 45.
The Para Judo competition of the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held in Hall 3 at the Carioca Arena inside the Olympic Training Center in Barra cluster between 8 and 10 September. There were 13 events, corresponding to seven weight classes for men and six for women, and a total of 132 athletes will compete. At the Paralympics, judo is contested by visually impaired athletes.
Dr Whang Youn Dai is a Korean physician known for her work on the welfare of people with disabilities and her advocacy of sports for those with disabilities. The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award is named in recognition of her contributions to Paralympic sport.
Priscilla Gagné is a partially blind Canadian judoka. She won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
