Stephanie Wheeler (born in Norlina, North Carolina on January 16, 1981) is an American wheelchair basketball player who was on two gold medal-winning Paralympic teams. She also played on the gold medal-winning team at the 2007 Para-Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro. [1] She received her degree in kinesiology from the University of Illinois and is working on her doctorate in sports education from the University of Alabama. [2] As of 2010 she is head coach of the University of Illinois wheelchair basketball team, [3] and will return to the Paralympic games in Rio in 2016, now as a coach. [4]
At age 6, Stephanie became paralyzed after being in a car accident [5] that took her mother's life. [4] As a child, she was an active participant in T-ball and gymnastics, [4] and she wanted to remain active despite her paralysis. [5] At age 12, she joined her local adaptive sports club that only offered one sport: wheelchair basketball. [5]
Several years later, she attended a sports camp at the University of Illinois, where she was able to compete in wheelchair basketball on a larger scale than her hometown of 1000 people in Norlina, North Carolina. Spending time at the university exposed her to what she could achieve if she worked hard and received good grades. As a result, she applied and eventually became a student athlete at the University of Illinois. During her time as a student athlete, she won three national championships in wheelchair basketball. [5] In 2004, she graduated with a degree in kinesiology. [6]
After undergraduate school, she relocated to the University of Alabama, where she received her master's degree in adaptive sport and pedagogy. While she was a student there, she helped grow their new wheelchair basketball program. [6]
Many of Stephanie's teammates at the University of Illinois were members of Team USA, and they encouraged her to apply. She did not make the team after her first tryout, but eventually was accepted to the development team in 2001. From there, she competed in the Paralympic games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), winning gold medals at both. The team's gold medal in 2004 was the first gold medal Team USA had won at the Paralympic games in 22 years. [6] While she was on Team USA, they also won 2 World Championship silver medals and 1 gold medal. [4]
Stephanie retired from wheelchair basketball as a player in 2010 but wanted to continue her involvement in the sport. The position of head coach at the University of Illinois opened up at the same time as her retirement, so she applied for and received the job. The success of her program at the university led to her being named head coach of Team USA. [5]
Throughout her adolescence, Stephanie had dated men, but she began dating women in 2008. Shortly after, she came out as gay to her teammates. [4]
Scot Hollonbeck is an American wheelchair racer, who competed at the Olympic and Paralympic level. At the 1996 Olympic Games, he placed second in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. 2000 Summer Olympic Games, he placed sixth in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he finished 4th in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. Men's 1500m wheelchair. At the 1992 Olympic Games, he finished 5th in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. Men's 1500m wheelchairHe competed in four consecutive Summer Olympic finals, winning one silver medal and Summer Paralympics from 1992 to 2004, winning a total of two gold and three silver medals.
Steven Serio is a wheelchair basketball player. As a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team, he led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.
Shelley Matheson is an Australian 3.5-point player wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal, and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal, a win she dedicated to her lifelong friend Shannon.
Tatyana McFadden is an American Paralympic athlete competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games and the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2015.
Alana Jane Nichols is an American Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and alpine skier.
Cobi Crispin is a 4 point wheelchair basketball forward from Western Australia. She began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003 when she was 17 years old. The Victorian Institute of Sport and Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program have provided assistance to enable her to play. She played club basketball in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) for the Victorian Dandenong Rangers in 2012 after having previously played for the Western Stars. In 2015 she began playing for the Minecraft Comets. She played for the University of Alabama in the United States in 2013–15.
Caz Walton OBE is a British retired wheelchair athlete and former Great Britain Paralympic team manager. She was a multi-disciplinary gold medallist who competed in numerous Paralympic Games. Between 1964 and 1976 she won medals in athletics, swimming, table tennis, and fencing. She took a break from the Paralympics, entering the basketball and fencing competitions in 1988. In total Walton won ten gold medals during her Paralympic career, making her one of the most successful British athletes of all time. Walton should also have been awarded gold in the 1968 Tel Aviv Women's Pentathlon incomplete but, due to a miscalculation of her total score which went unnoticed at the time, she was given third place and a bronze medal.
Edina Müller is a German 2.5 point wheelchair basketball player and KL1 canoeist. She played for ASV Bonn in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the national team. As part of the German women's national wheelchair basketball team, she won bronze at the 2006 World Cup in Amsterdam, won three time European champions, a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The team was voted 2008 Team of the Year in disabled sports, and Horst Köhler presented it with Germany's highest sports award, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt. President Joachim Gauck awarded the team a second Silver Leaf after it won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Müller was also a two-time U.S. champion (2006-2008) with her college team Illinois Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and helped ASV Bonn win the European Cup in Valladolid, Spain in 2009. From 2011 to 2014 she played for Hamburger SV.
Annika Zeyen-Giles is a former 1.5-point wheelchair basketball player, who has played for ASV Bonn, RSV Lahn-Dill and BG Baskets Hamburg in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the University of Alabama in the United States. She has represented her country a total of 382 times in which she won six European titles, was the runner-up at 2010 and 2014 World Championships, won silver medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, for which President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt . Following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Zeyen retired from wheelchair basketball to pursue alternative sporting challenges as an individual athlete.
Sharon Hedrick is an American former paralympic swimmer, wheelchair racer and wheelchair basketballer.
Mackenzie Soldan is an American wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis player. She represented the United States at the 2011 Parapan American Games where she won two gold medals, 2012 London Paralympics in wheelchair tennis and 2016 Rio Paralympics in wheelchair basketball. She has played for the U.S. women's wheelchair basketball team since 2013.
Timothy J. C. Frick is a Canadian wheelchair basketball coach who coached the Canadian women's team to three consecutive Summer Paralympic Games gold medals, in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and four consecutive World Wheelchair Basketball Championship titles, in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006. He was inducted into the Wheelchair Basketball Canada Hall of Fame in 2012, the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2013, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 and induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame[usurped] in 2017.
Janet McLachlan is a Canadian 4.5 point wheelchair basketball player who won a bronze medal at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, and gold at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
Robyn Love is a 3.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Courtney Anne Ryan is a 2.0 point American wheelchair basketball player who played with the national team at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto in 2014. In 2017, she played for the Sydney Metro Blues in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League in Australia.
Ann Cody is a three-time U.S. Paralympian who works at the United States Department of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor on the advancement of international disability rights. After debuting at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair basketball, Cody won four silver medals in athletics at the 1988 Summer Paralympics. Cody also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in wheelchair racing. At her third Paralympics, Cody helped set a world record in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 1992 Summer Paralympics while winning one gold and one bronze medal.
Abigail Dunkin is an American 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player who won gold at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada, the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Suphanburi, Thailand.
Rose Hollermann is an American 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player who won gold at the 2011, and 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, the 2011, 2015 and 2023 Parapan American Games, and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She also won bronze at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.
Megan Blunk is an American wheelchair basketball player for the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team. She won a gold medal for Team USA during the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Kevin Orr is an American Paralympic athlete and coach. Orr won two bronze medals at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in the 800 and 5,000 meter races. Upon retiring from playing, Orr became a coach for Team USA and Canada.