| Allison Aldrich | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Allison Elizabeth Aldrich | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | January 19, 1988 (age 35) Schuyler, Nebraska, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Schuyler, Nebraska, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allison Elizabeth Aldrich (born January 19, 1988) [1] is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Aldrich was born in Schuyler, Nebraska. [2] In 1995, when she was only 7 years old [3] she was diagnosed with sarcoma a cell cancer. Aldrich was featured in Omaha World-Herald article in 2004. [4] In March 2004 she received an invitation to a sitting volleyball camp in Denver, where she was tried for Paralympics. [5] She graduated from Schuyler Central High School in 2006 and from that year attends Nebraska Wesleyan University. She used to be a member of National Honor Society from which she won the Ron Gustafson Inspirational Award. [2]
She got her first medal which was bronze in 2004 Paralympic Games which were held in Athens, Greece. [6] In 2007, she won a silver medal for her participation in Sitting Volleyball Invitational. In 2008, she was awarded another silver medal in Paralympic Games in Beijing and the same year was given a bronze medal for participation at World Organization Volleyball for Disabled Intercontinental Cup. Gold medals for her started in 2009 when she won a Parapan American Zonal Championship and Paralympic EuroCup. 2010 brought her another silver medal for her participation in WOVD and another gold one for World Cup. The same year she participated and won at Parapan American Championship in Colorado where she earned another gold medal. In 2011, she was awarded with two more gold medals for her role in ECVD Continental Cup and for PAZC. At 2012 Paralympic Games she was awarded a silver medal and won gold for Volleyball Masters. [2]
On occasion she travels to Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota to get a prosthetists opinion on her leg health which she lost in a battle with cancer at University of Nebraska Medical Center. [5] In her spare time she likes to watch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Kobe Bryant. When it comes to sports she likes to watch Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Lakers. [2] She is also a Health Teacher at Walnut Middle School in Grand Island, Nebraska. She teaches safe sex, pregnancy, germs, cancer and many other health subjects.
The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. A total of 235 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only sport Americans did not compete in was soccer 5-a-side. The United States finished fourth in the gold and overall medal count, behind China, Great Britain and Canada.
Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes. Australian competitors won 101 medals to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table. Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird. The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities. The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.
Karolina Pelendritou is a visually impaired swimmer from Cyprus. She has won gold medals and broken records in national and international games as well as winning three gold medals, a silver and two bronze over four Paralympic Games. Due to her achievements she is known as the "Princess of the Pool".
Chantal Benoit is a Canadian wheelchair basketball player. She is considered among the best female wheelchair basketball players of all time.
Lora Jessica Webster is an American Paralympic volleyballist. She won a 2018 Theresa Award.
Hope Lewellen is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Michelle Gerlosky is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Monique Marie Matthews is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Nichole Ann Millage is a former American Paralympic volleyballist and an Environmental Sustainability Specialist at the City of Champaign.
Heather Nicole Erickson is an American Paralympic sitting volleyball player.
Kaleo Okalani KanaheleMaclay is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Kathryn S. "Katie" Holloway is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Kendra Lancaster is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
Kari LaRaine Miller is an American Paralympic volleyball player.
Gina McWilliams is a former American Paralympic volleyballer.
Karla Tritten is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and physical education teacher at the Balwin Junior High School, a department of Victoria School of the Arts. As of 2018, she resides in Sturgeon County.
Tracey Ferguson is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. She has won several gold medals including at three different Paralympic Games.
Sarah Castle is an American Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and swimmer.
Chelsey Gotell is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer and 12-time medalist. She has oculocutaneous albinism which causes her to have poor vision.
Amalia Pérez Vázquez is a Mexican powerlifter in the 44 kilograms (97 lb) - 60 kilograms (130 lb) bracket. She has four times been a Paralympic champion and is the only powerlifter in the world to have Paralympic champion in three divisions.
