Athletics career
Benhama, who trains out of Association Handisport Ennasser in Salé, made her senior debut as a T13 classification athlete at a meet in Rabat in 2008. [2] Later that year she made her full international debut when she was selected as part of the Morocco team to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. She competed in four events, the three sprints and the long jump. In the long jump she made the last eight allowing her to compete at three more attempts, but with her best some distance from the leading pack Benhama withdrew with two jumps remaining, finishing in sixth place. It was in the sprint events that Benhama made an impact at the Games. She began with the 400 metre sprint, qualifying in the fastest time and then setting a new Paralympic record of 55.56 seconds in the finals to take her first gold medal of the Games. [3] She followed this two days later with another gold, this time in the 200 metres, in which she beat her nearest rival, France's Nantenin Keïta by over half a second. [2] Her final event of the 2008 Paralympics was the 100 metres (T13), in which she set a Paralympic record in the heats, qualifying with a time of 12.38 seconds. [4] In the final, an event beset with heavy rain, Benhama recorded a time of 12.28 to take her third gold medal and set a new world record. [5]
Three years later Benhama represented Morocco at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch. She took three medals across the sprints, but failed to secure gold in any of them, being beaten by South Africa's Ilse Hayes in the 100 metres and Cuba'a Omara Durand in the 200 metres to take two silver medals; with a bronze in the 400 metre event. [2] The birth of her son in 2012, meant that Benhama took a break from racing that year, and was unable to defend her Paralympic titles in London. [2]
The next year she was back in international competition and won three medals at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon. a gold in the 100 metres, a bronze in the 200 metres, and her only major international medal in the long jump, a silver. [2] Two years later she entered the 2015 World Championships in Doha she won two bronze medals, in the 200 and 400 metre races. [2] Benhama also represented her country at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, but did not make the podium in either of her two events, the 100 metre and 400 metre races. [2]
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.
Nantenin Keïta is a French athlete who competes mainly in Paralympic category T13 sprint events. She is the daughter of the Malian musician Salif Keita and thus a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. Like her father, she was born with albinism, and is visually impaired.
Morocco made its Paralympic Games début at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. It was represented by an all-male team, with five competitors in athletics, three in swimming, and a wheelchair basketball team. Abdeljalal Biare won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle in swimming - Morocco's sole medal of the 1988 Games.
El Salvador first competed in the Paralympic Games at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia. It has participated in the Summer Paralympic Games every four years since that time. El Salvador has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics, and until Tokyo 2020, no Salvadorian had won a Paralympic medal. In 2021, Herbert Aceituno became the first athlete to win a medal, earning bronze in powerlifting at the 59 kg category.
Carlee Beattie is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. A congenital arm amputee, she won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in the Women's Long Jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Jodi Elkington-Jones is Australian athlete who has cerebral palsy. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and has also competed in two Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 2014 Games in the F37/38 long jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
Johanna Benson is a Paralympian athlete from Walvis Bay, Namibia. She competes in T37 long jump and sprint events and at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London she won the women's 200 metres race in her classification. Her 200 metres success in London made her the first Paralympic gold medalist in Namibia's history.
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.
Nikol Rodomakina is a Paralympic athlete from Russia competing mainly in category T46 sprint and F46 long jump events. Between 2011 and 2013 Rodomakina was World, Paralympic and European champion in the F46 long jump.
Zachary "Zac" Shaw is a British visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 and T13 disability classifications. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. In 2013 he started training for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2014 Shaw won silver in both 100 metres and 200 metres at the UK School Games. In 2015 he made his international debut in the Berlin IPC Grand Prix where he won bronze.
Carolina Duarte is a track and field athlete from Portugal competing mainly sprint events. Duarte has competed in both disabled and non-disabled sporting competitions. In disability sport she competes as a T13 athlete, a classification for athletes who are visually impaired.
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.
Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu is a visually impaired South African sprinter. Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu is currently South Africa's fastest ever para-athlete. His 10.80 was posted on April 12, 2018, during the heats of the Commonwealth Games. Competing in the T12 classification, Ntutu has competed at three Summer Paralympic Games, winning bronze in the 2012 Games in London. He is also a multiple World Championships winner, taking five medals over four tournaments.
Lynda Hamri is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in T12 classification sprint and long jump events. Hamri represented Algeria at two Summer Paralympics, winning a silver in the long jump at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and a bronze in the same event four years later in Rio de Janeiro. Hamri has also won two silver medals at the IPC World Championships, both in the long jump, at Lyon in 2013 and at Doha in 2015.
Anna Grimaldi is a New Zealand para-athlete, primarily competing in the long jump and sprint events. She has won two gold medals at Paralympics in the women's long jump: at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
Irmgard Bensusan is a South African born Paralympic sprinter who now competes for Germany, mainly in T44 classification events. Bensusan competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics where she won three silver medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metre sprints.
Johannes Nambala is a Paralympian athlete from Namibia competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. In 2013 he became the first Namibian to win a gold medal at an IPC Athletics World Championships, when he won the 400m sprint in Lyon. As well as World Championship success Nambala has also won two silver Paralympic medals, both silver, and both won at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Felix Streng is a German Paralympic track and field athlete. A single leg amputee, Streng competes in both sprint and long jump events, competing in the T44 classification. He has won medals at both European and World Championship level and was part of the German Athletics at the 2016 Summer Paralympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay team that won gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio.
Najah Chouaya is a Tunisian runner and Paralympic athlete. She won a silver medal for Tunisia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the Women's 1500 metres - T13.
Edmilsa Governo is a Mozambican athlete, who won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metres T12 event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She also won a gold medal in the 200 metres T12 event at the 2015 African Games, and a bronze medal in the 400 metres T12 event at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships.
