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Born | Brampton, Ontario, Canada | February 10, 1984||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Stephanie Dixon, CM (born February 10, 1984) [1] is a Canadian swimmer. Prior to the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Dixon had accumulated fifteen Paralympic medals and is considered to be one of the best swimmers with a disability in the world. [2]
Born missing her right leg and hip and with an omphalocele, [3] [4] she began to swim at the age of two. At the age of 13, she began competitive swimming against athletes without disabilities. At the age of 14, she joined Canada's national Paralympic team. [1] She uses underarm crutches. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
She represented Canada at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, at the age of 16, and won five gold medals. [10] With 5 golds, she set the Canadian record for most golds at a single Games. [11] Representing her country again at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, she won one gold, six silver, and one bronze, In the ParaPan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, she won 7 gold medals. She participated in the Paralympic Games for the third time in Beijing in 2008. [1]
Dixon has also won several medals and set several world records at World Championships and at the Commonwealth Games. [12]
She has been added to the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame. [13] [14] In 2016, she was awarded the Order of Sport, marking her induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. [15]
She earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Victoria. [16]
In 2021, Dixon began pursuing a master's degree in kinesiology at the University of Toronto. [17]
Chantal Petitclerc is a Canadian wheelchair racer and a Senator from Quebec.
Natalie du Toit OIG MBE is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10km swim.
Ronald Brian Jacks was a Canadian Olympic and international swimmer in the 1960s and 1970s. He is currently a leading coach for Canadian swimmers such as Richard Weinberger through the Pacific Coast Swimming Club.
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Benoit Huot is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer, who has won nine Paralympic Games gold medals for Canada, primarily in the freestyle and butterfly strokes.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson is a Paralympic swimmer, runner and triathlete from the USA.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
Priya Naree Cooper, is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Paralympics with an S8 classification. She was twice the co-captain of the Australian Paralympic team, including at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and carried the Australian flag at the closing ceremonies for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Paralympics. Cooper has cerebral palsy and spends much of her time in a wheelchair. She attended university, working on a course in health management. After she ended her competitive Paralympic career, she became a commentator, and covered the swimming events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
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.
Yip Pin Xiu is a Singaporean backstroke swimmer. She is a five-time Paralympic gold medallist and 5 time World Champion, with two world records in the 50 m backstroke S2 and the 100 m backstroke S2. Yip is Singapore's most decorated Paralympian.
The 2010 Winter Paralympics Torch Relay was a 10-day event leading up to the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver. It began on March 3, 2010, in Ottawa and concluded at the Games' opening ceremony on March 12. Held entirely within Canada, the host country, it has been described by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as "an important event to connect Canadians to the Games", by "demonstrating the fire inside each individual and how it inspires others".
Canada competed at the XI Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia from October 18 to 29, 2000. The Canadian team included 166 athletes; 113 on foot and 53 on wheelchairs. Canada finished third in the medal table and won a total of ninety-six medals; thirty-eight gold, thirty-three silver and twenty-five bronze.
Maddison Gae Elliott, is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals.
Summer Ashley Mortimer is a Canadian-Dutch former paraswimmer who competed internationally for Canada, and later the Netherlands national paralympic team, an artist, a performing artist, and CBC Sports personality.
Michael Edgson is a Canadian retired Paralympic swimmer. He is amongst the most successful Paralympians of all time having won 17 gold medals. He attended three Games between 1984 and 1992, winning medals in all but one of the events in which he competed individually. As a visually-impaired athlete Edgson competes in the B3 classification.
Aurélie Rivard is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer. After winning three Paralympics gold medals, claiming a silver Paralympic medal and setting two World Records and a Paralympic Record at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the Paraswimmer was named Canada's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
Carla Dawn Qualtrough is a Canadian politician and former Paralympic swimmer who has served as the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity since July 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, Qualtrough has represented the riding of Delta in the House of Commons since 2015.
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.
Andrea Cole is a Canadian former Paralympic swimmer. She competed as a member of Team Canada at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, 2004 Summer Paralympics, and 2008 Summer Paralympics. She set a Canadian record in the women's SM8 200-m individual medley in 2002 with a time of 3:03.04, which was beaten in 2016.
Anne Green was an Australian swimming coach and administrator particularly in relation to disability sport. She was Chair of the International Paralympic Committee Swimming Executive Committee from 1992 to 2006.