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| Nickname | Ogie [1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  United States | |||||||||||||||||
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Zena Cole is an American Paralympic discus thrower, who has competed at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, winning a bronze medal in London.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Ogie [1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | United States | |||||||||||||||||
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Zena Cole is an American Paralympic discus thrower, who has competed at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, winning a bronze medal in London.
Zena Cole was born in Ohio. [2] When she was 18-months-old she contracted polio and spent years in an iron lung ventilator. Until the age of twelve, she used crutches and braces which often broke while she was playing outside. The doctors suggested that she should use a wheelchair. In 1991 she was diagnosed with a condition called post-polio syndrome which caused her to retire from the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation. [3]
In 2011, Cole won a silver medal at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and the same year won a gold medal at the Parapan American Games. [2] She also participated at the 2012 Summer Paralympics where she won a bronze medal for discus throw of 5.29 m. She participated in the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, competing in discus and club throw. [4]
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, she beat her previous personal best of 4.89 m with a 4.98 m throw at the Women's Discus Throw in the F52 category [5] but came sixth. [2]
Aigars Apinis is a Latvian athlete. He participates in F52 class which means he has limited finger movement and no trunk or leg function.
Mi Na is a Chinese Paralympic athlete who competes in throwing events for F37 classification cerebral palsy athletes.
Hania Aidi is a Paralympian athlete from Tunisia competing mainly in category F54 javelin throw events. Aidi has competed at four consecutive Summer Paralympics, winning silver medals at three of the Games. She is also a three time World Championships winner medalist and has held the F54 javelin world record on numerous occasions throughout her career.
Katherine Proudfoot is a cerebral palsy athlete from Australia competing mainly in throwing events. She competed in the F36 classification at the 2008, 2012 and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning medals at each Game. Following a medical review request in early 2017, she now competes in seated throws in the F32 classification. At the 2017 Australian Athletics Championships she threw 7.04m in the Women's Shot Put Secured event, bettering the Women's F32 shot put world record mark of 6.55m.
Ntombizanele Situ, better known as Zanele Situ, was a South African Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category F54 throwing events. Specialising in the javelin throw, Situ was a two-time gold medalist at both the Paralympics and the IPC Athletics World Championships and was the first female South African black athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal.
Jessica Gallagher is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.
Hollie Beth Arnold, is a British parasport athlete competing in category F46 javelin. Although born in Grimsby, she now lives and trains in Loughborough. She represents Wales in the Commonwealth Games.
Beverley Jones is a Paralympian from Wales competing in category F37 throwing events. Jones won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games as an EAD in the 100m sprint. Jones has qualified for four Summer Paralympics from 2000 to 2012 finishing fourth twice, in the sprint in 2000 at Sydney and in the shot put at Athens in 2004.
Claudiney Batista dos Santos is a Brazilian Paralympian athlete competing in category F57/T57 throwing events. He won a silver medal in the javelin throw at the 2012 Paralympics and a gold medal in the discus throw at the 2016 Rio Games.
Alphanso Cunningham is a Paralympian athlete from Jamaica competing mainly in category F53 throwing events.
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.
Guy Nicholas Henly is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He currently competes in discus and shot put and has won medals at the 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Joanna Butterfield, is a British parasport athlete who competes in the F51 club and discus throw. In 2014 Butterfield set a European record in the club while winning the event at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships. The following year she added the World title at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Qatar, securing a place at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She went on to set a World record in the Club throw event while winning Gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. In 2023 She switched sport to Wheelchair Curling.
Claire Keefer is a short stature athlete from Australia. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics where she won a bronze medal. She has won a silver and bronze medal at the World Para Athletics Championships.
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.
Samar Ben Koelleb is a Tunisian athlete who competes in both shot put and discus for her country. She won the silver medal in the women's F41 shot put at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and bronze medals in both sports at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
Oney Tapia is a visually impaired Italian-Cuban Paralympic athlete competing in discus throw and shot put events. He represented Italy at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and he won the silver medal in the men's discus throw F11 event. He represented Italy at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in the discus throw and shot put events, winning two bronze medals.
Zoia Ovsii is a Ukrainian Paralympic athlete competing in F51-classification throwing events. She won the gold medal in the women's club throw F51 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also won the bronze medal in the women's discus throw F53 event. She won two medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Akeem Stewart is a Trinidad and Tobago Paralympic athlete competing in F43/F44-classification discus throw, javelin throw and shot put events.
Fathia Amaimia is a Tunisian Paralympic athlete of short stature. She competes in F41-classification throwing events. She represented Tunisia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and she won the bronze medal in the women's discus throw F41 event. She also competed in the women's shot put F41 event where she finished in 6th place.