| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Cambodian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 February 1986 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Para-athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T54 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | 100 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Van Vun (born 7 February 1986) is a Cambodian para-athlete specializing in the 100 metres. He represented Cambodia at three Summer Paralympics in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Van became paralysed in both legs at age 3 after contracting Polio due to a lack of vaccination in rural Cambodia. Born into a farming family, they were unable to afford a wheelchair for him and he was forced to drop out of school in Year 5. He was often discriminated against because of his disability. He only began wheelchair racing in 2006 at 20 after being introduced to the sport by an Australian organisation. In 2010, he was invited to train in Australia and was gifted a racing chair after which he took up the sport seriously. [2]
At this first international event, would win silver at the 2011 ASEAN Para Games in the 100 and 200 metres. He would continue his form, winning Gold in the 100, 200 and 400 metres at the 2013 Myanmar Games, being awarded $30,000 by the Cambodian Government for his achievements.
He won Bronze at 2015 ASEAN Para Games, before being selected as Cambodia's sole representative at the 2016, acting as the flag bearer and finishing 15th in the 100 m T54. [2]
Van was again the sole representative and flag bearer at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics, making the final of the 100 m T54 and finishing 7th in 2020. [1]
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, finishing his Paralympic Games career with thirteen medals. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach.
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.
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.
Madison de Rozario, is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair racer who specialises in middle and long-distance events. She competed at the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals, three silver and a bronze. She has also won ten medals at the World Para Athletics Championships and four gold at the Commonwealth Games. De Rozario holds the world record in the Women's 800m T53 and formerly in the Women's 1500m T53/54.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Marcel Eric Hug is a Paralympic athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 5000m.
Jake Lappin is an Australian para-athlete competing as a wheelchair racer. He represented Australia at the London 2012 Summer Paralympics and at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Brent Lakatos is a Canadian wheelchair racer in the T53 classification. Lakatos has represented Canada at four Summer Paralympics, and at the 2012 Games he won three silver medals in the sprint and mid-distance events. In 2013 Lakatos reached the pinnacle of his sport when he collected four gold medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships and became world champion at his classification in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
Samuel Harrison Carter is a Paralympic athlete, who competes in 100m, 200m, 400m T54 events. He has represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Mauritius sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the fifth time the country had taken part in a Paralympic Games after its debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Mauritian delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: wheelchair racer Brandy Perrine and short-distance swimmer Scody Victor. The nation's best result was tenth overall by Perrine in the women's 100 metres T54 event as both competitors did not progress to the final in their respective competitions.
Gabon sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the nation's third appearance at a Summer Paralympic Games, following their two previous participations at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Gabon sent a sole athlete to represent them at Rio de Janeiro, wheelchair racer Edmond Ngombi. He did not advance from his heat in the men's 100 metres T54 event as he came sixth out of seven competitors and attributed the result to a handlebar problem.
Burkina Faso sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the country's sixth time competing at a Summer Paralympic Games after making its debut at the 1992 Summer Paralympics. Burkina Faso was represented by one athlete, Jacques Ouedraogo. He competed in one event, the men's 100 metres T54 competition, where he was eliminated in the heat stages because he was last in his heat and only the top two participants in a heat progressed to the semi-finals.
Cambodia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. This was the nation's fifth time competing at the Summer Paralympic Games after it made its debut at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. The delegation consisted of Vun Van competing in the Men's 100 metres T54.
Jerrold Pete Macabio Mangliwan is a Filipino wheelchair racer who is a two-time Paralympian for the Philippines who competed in the 2016 and 2020 editions. In wheelchair racing, he competes in the T52 classification.
Anita Fordjour is a Ghanaian athlete, who has competed in wheelchair racing. She came third in the 1500 metres T54 event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and has won multiple medals at the All-Africa Games.
Tomoki Suzuki is a Japanese wheelchair racer, who won the 2020 and 2024 Tokyo Marathons, came second at the 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023 Tokyo Marathons, and came third at the 2017 Tokyo, 2019 and 2023 London Marathons. Suzuki and won a bronze medal in the mixed 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, and a bronze medal in the marathon T54 event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Nathan Maguire is a British wheelchair racer. He won multiple medals at both the 2018 and 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and also won the 400 metres mixed class race at multiple British Athletics Championships. Maguire competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay T53/T54 at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and competed in the 400 metres T54, 800 metres T54 and mixed 4 × 100 metres relay events at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was part of the British team that won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympic mixed 4 × 100 metres relay. He also competed for England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and won the 1500 metres T54 event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Cambodia competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. This was the nation's sixth time competing at the Summer Paralympic Games after it made its debut at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. The delegation consisted of Vun Van competing in the Men's 100 metres T54.
Isatou Nyang is a Gambian Paralympic athlete. She was the first female Paralympic athlete from Gambia when she raced in the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where she was the Gambian flag bearer in the opening ceremony.
