Sandra James

Last updated May 26, 2023

Sandra James is a Zimbabwean former athlete, who won eleven medals across four different sports at the Paralympic Games.

1972: representing Rhodesia

James initially represented Rhodesia at the 1972 Summer Paralympics, competing in athletics and swimming.

In athletics, she entered the discus, javelin and shot put in the 1A category. In the discus, she took bronze with a throw of 6.00m, behind German and Argentinian competitors. In the javelin, her throw of 5.22m was well clear of any competition, enabling her to win the gold medal; J. Murland of Canada came second with 4.68m. In the shot put, Dutch athlete de Vries-Noordam dominated the field with a throw of 2.59, but James' result, 1.96m, was just enough for second place, ahead of Murland (1.91).

In swimming, she competed in three 25m races, also in the 1A category. In the backstroke, she finished sixth, a clear last, in 1:47.3, while Karen Donaldson of the USA set a world record in 39.8s. In the freestyle, she was the only competitor, and thus won gold simply by completing the race. Her time of 1:10.0 was, nonetheless, a world record. In the breaststroke, German swimmer Mayerhofer took a clear lead to win in 47s, but James' time of 1:13.3 was sufficient for silver, ahead of two other swimmers.^[1]

This was to be Rhodesia's last participation in the Paralympic Games. Shunned by much of the international community, the country was embroiled in the Rhodesian Bush War by the time of the 1976 Games, and did not take part. Rhodesia's successor state, Zimbabwe, began to participate in the Paralympics immediately upon coming into being, and Sandra James returned to the Paralympics as part of Zimbabwe's delegation to the 1980 Games.

1980: representing Zimbabwe

In 1980, James took part in athletics, swimming, lawn bowls and table tennis.

In athletics, she swept up three silver medals, in the discus, shot put and club throw events (1A category). She achieved a throw of 13.72m in the club, behind Josefina Cornejo's world record result of 18.05m for Mexico. In the discus, her result of 7.26m again placed her second behind Cornejo (8.42m), while in the shot put, her throw of 2.72m won her a third silver, behind Cornejo's Paralympic record throw of 2.94m.

In lawn bowls, she took part in the pairs' event in the 1A-1B category, with team mate Eileen Robertson. The event consisted in a single encounter, against M. McLellan and Jane Blackburn of Great Britain. The British pair won the match, leaving the Zimbabweans with a silver medal.

In swimming, James competed in the same events as eight years previously. In the backstroke, she came fourth and last by far, her time of 1:43.46 well behind third-placed Eugenia Garcia of Argentina (56.76s), while Donaldson of the USA set a world record in 35.09s. In the freestyle, she likewise finished fourth and last, in 1:10.69. In the breaststroke, however, she was one of only two competitors. Completing the event in 1:10.75, behind Garcia (1:00.82), she took silver.

In table tennis, James and Robertson were one of three pairs competing in the 1B category. They were defeated 0–3 by Norwegian team Marit Lysen and A. Klausen in the semi-finals. In the other semi-final, Mexico were non-starters against Ireland, resulting in a walkover. Norway defeated Ireland in the final, for gold; no bronze medal was awarded. James fared better in the singles, where she was one of three competitors in the 1A category. She lost 1–2 to J. Toomey of Ireland, but defeated Mexico's Josefina Cornejo 2–0, and won silver.

This was James' last participation in the Paralympic Games.^[1]

Related Research Articles

Estonia participated in the IX. Summer Paralympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Estonian flag bearer at the opening ceremony was Nadežda Maksimova.

France competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome. France's six athletes competed in four sports: archery, athletics, dartchery and swimming. All of France's athletes obtained medals in every event they competed in.

Rhodesia competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome. It was the only African country to take part. Rhodesia sent two competitors to the games, one of whom was Margaret Harriman, who competed in archery and swimming. Harriman won a total of five medals, placing her country 11th out of 17 on the medal table. She took gold in both the archery events she participated in, and won a silver medal and two bronze in swimming.

Argentina participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, with a delegation consisting in five swimmers, and has taken part in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since then. The country made its Winter Paralympics début in 2010, with a two-man delegation in alpine skiing.

Finland competed at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg. It was the country's third participation in the Paralympics, and it sent a significantly larger delegation than for the previous Games. In 1960 and in 1968, it had been represented by a single athlete; for the Heidelberg Games, it sent 24 athletes to compete in five sports: archery, athletics, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting. This was the first time Finnish women had competed at the Paralympics.

Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum is an Israeli athlete who has won 30 Paralympic medals. She has represented Israel at the Summer Paralympic Games seven times and has competed in athletics, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair basketball at the Games.

Switzerland was one of the seventeen nations that competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 held in Rome, Italy, from September 19 to 24, 1960. Preparations for the Games began two years prior in 1958 to stage what was at the time called the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games. The team finished thirteenth in the medal table with a total of four medals, one gold and three silver. The Swiss team consisted of two athletes: Denis Favre, a man who competed in athletics and swimming events, and Simone Knusli, a woman who competed in swimming.

Lorraine McCoulough-Fry was an Australian Paralympic swimmer, athlete and table tennis player.

Also known as the 13th Stoke Mandeville Games, the 1964 Summer Paralympics was the 2nd Paralympic Games. Hosted in Tokyo, the games ran from 8 to 12 November. Australia won a total of 30 medals and finished fourth on the medal tally behind Italy (3rd), Great Britain (2nd) and the United States (1st). Australia competed in 6 of the 9 sports at the Games, winning medals in each of those sports, but was most successful in the pool, winning a majority of their medals in swimming events.

Czech Republic competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included 65 athletes, 45 men and 20 women. Competitors from Czech Republic won 31 medals, including 16 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze to finish 12th in the medal table. Among them was the flag bearer of the Czech team, Roman Musil - the most successful Czech Paralympian at the Sydney games.

Valerie Robertson is a British former Paralympic athlete who competed in archery, athletics, swimming, and wheelchair fencing, winning at least a silver medal in each. She won a total of six Paralympic gold medals at three Games. After completing her Paralympic career, Robertson had a very successful transition to wheelchair lawn bowling.

Deepa Malik is an Indian athlete. She started her career at the age of 30. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put. She also won gold in the F-53/54 Javelin event at the para athletic Grand Prix held in Dubai in 2018. She is currently the world number one in the F-53 category. She has won accolades for her participation in various adventure sports. She is associated with Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A.) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I.). She has undertaken an 8-day, 1,700-km drive in sub-zero temperatures which included a climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m). It was – Raid De Himalaya. This journey covers many difficult paths including remote Himalayas, Leh, Shimla and Jammu.

India competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympic Games since 1968.

Senegal sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the fourth successive appearance for the nation in a Summer Paralympic Games after it debuted at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. Youssouphua Diouf, a javelin thrower, and shot put and discus thrower Daque Diop were the two athletes sent to Rio de Janeiro by Senegal. The delegation failed to win the country's first medal at the Summer Paralympics as its best performance in these Games was Diouf's seventh position in the men's javelin F56-57 event.

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 second Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica from 14 to 20 August 1966. There were 133 athletes from 10 countries. The Games were opened by Prince Philip.

Martha Sandoval Gustafson is a Mexican-Canadian Paralympic medallist in table tennis, swimming, and athletics. As a Mexican Paralympian, Gustafson won a total of twelve medals, which includes three golds at the 1976 Summer Paralympics and two golds and the 1980 Summer Paralympics. After she moved to Canada in 1981, Gustafson won six golds and one silver at the 1984 Summer Paralympics for Canada. In 2020, Gustafson became part of the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.

Oksana Khrul is a Ukrainian para-swimmer, competing in S6, SM6 and SB7 categories.

Batia Shviki is an Israeli Paralympic athlete. She won two gold medals and one bronze medal. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Malka Halfon-Potashnik is an Israeli Paralympic champion. She won four gold, four silver, and one bronze medal.

References

1 2 "Sandra James". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee.

External links

Sandra James at the International Paralympic Committee

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[ipcprofile-1] 1 2 "Sandra James". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee.

[1]