1.

Tanni Grey-Thompson
The Baroness Grey-Thompson

Personal details

Born

Carys Davina Grey

26 July 1969 (age 46)
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Nationality

British

Political party

Crossbench

Spouse(s)

Ian Thompson (1999-present)

Children

1 daughter

Alma mater

Loughborough University

Occupation

Politician; athlete; TV personality

Website

tanni.co.uk

Nickname(s)

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Sports career

Great Britain

Country

Wales

Sport

Wheelchair racing

Disability

Spina bifida

Disability class

T53

Retired

2007

Now coaching

Jade Jones[1]

Medal record[hide]
Competitor for
Great Britain
Women's athletics
Paralympic Games
1992 Barcelona
100 m
1992 Barcelona

200 m

1992 Barcelona

400 m

1992 Barcelona

800 m

1996 Atlanta

800 m

2000 Sydney

100 m

2000 Sydney

200 m

2000 Sydney

400 m

2000 Sydney

800 m

2004 Athens

100 m

2004 Athens

400 m

1992 Barcelona

4 x 100 m

1996 Atlanta

100 m

1996 Atlanta

200 m

1996 Atlanta

400 m

1988 Seoul
World Championships
1998 Birmingham

400 m
200m

2006 Assen

200m

1998 Birmingham

400m

1998 Birmingham

800m

2006 Assen

800m

2006 Assen

400m

Carys Davina "Tanni" Grey-Thompson,[2] Baroness Grey-Thompson,DBE, DL (born 26 July

1969) is a former British wheelchair racer, aparliamentarian and a television presenter.
Grey-Thompson was born with spina bifida and is a wheelchair user. She is considered to be one of
the most successful disabled athletes in the UK. She graduated from Loughborough University in
1991 with a BA (Hons) degree inPolitics and Social Administration.
She was christened Carys Davina Grey, but her sister referred to her as "tiny" when she first saw
her, pronouncing it "tanni"; the nickname stuck.[3]
Thompson's Paralympic career started in the 100m at the Junior National Games for Wales in 1984.
Her international career began in 1988 in Seoul, where she won a bronze medal in the 400m. As a
young athlete she also competed in wheelchair basketball. Her fifth and last Paralympic Games
were in Athens (2004) where she won two gold medals in wheelchair racing in the 100m and 400m.
[4]
In total in her Paralympic career she won 16 medals (11 gold, four silver and a bronze) [4] and also
13 World Championship medals (six gold, five silver and two bronze).
On 27 February 2007 Grey-Thompson announced her pending retirement, with her last appearance
for Great Britain at May's Paralympic World Cup inManchester.[5]
Over her career she won a total of 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds, held over 30 world
records and won the London Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.

2. Paralympics 2012: Great Britain dressage star Lee

Pearson's Paralympic gold reign ended by Joann Formosa
Lee Pearson, the nine-time gold medallist, was beaten for the first time in
Paralympic competition on Saturday and had to settle for his first silver in
four Games when he was beaten by the Australian rider Joann Formosa.

Close but no cigar: Lee Pearson's gold medal reign has come to an end Photo: EPA
Though a 10th gold is almost guaranteed for Pearson in the team event which concludes on Sunday,
Saturdays result means that at best he can only equal the track athlete Baroness Tanni GreyThompson and swimmer David Roberts who currently share the British record of 11 golds at London
2012.
To do that he needs to win the freestyle on Monday and to become the most successful British
Paralympian of all time, he will now have to wait for Rio.
Pearson, 38, has long insisted that feat was more important to the media than it was to him and,
despite tasting a first defeat, he said he was really happy.
Its a tough competition, its been a tough year and Gentlemans a tough horse to ride, he said, so
silver will mean as much as any of my golds. In the freestyle Ill be doing my best to redeem myself.

It doesnt take away from anything Ive done previously. Ive always been a bit awkward with the
numbers game because there are other sports, like wheelchair basketball, where you can only win
one medal at each Games, and others like swimming where you can win six or seven.

3.Chantal Petitclerc named Canada's chef

de mission for Rio Paralympics
Montreal native raced to 21 Paralympic medals, including 14 gold
The Canadian Press Posted: Sep 08, 2014 12:42 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 09, 2014 10:17 AM EPlay Media

one of Canada's most decorated athletes, Chantal Petitclerc holds world records over
three different wheelchair distances, and has raced to 21 Paralympic medals, including
14 gold. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Related Stories

Chantal Petitclerc brings passion to Commonwealth Games

Chantal Petitclerc named Canada's chef de mission for 2014 Commonwealth Games

Leading Canada's Paralympic team in Rio will be a little like coming home for Chantal Petitclerc.
The wheelchair racing star was named Canada's chef de mission for the 2016 Paralympics on Monday, two months
after she led the Canadian team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
"This is as special [as Glasgow], but very different because this is my family, this is home. I know the athletes, I've
competed with them," Petitclerc said. "It's completely different, it's giving back to my family kind of."
The 44-year-old from Montreal is one of Canada's most decorated athletes of all time, holding world records over
three different wheelchair distances. She raced to 21 Paralympic medals, including 14 gold.
Her posting as chef of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games team was the first by a Paralympic athlete for a multisport Games. Her hiring, she said, spoke volumes about Canada's support for Paralympic sports.
"[Glasgow] was such a privilege and a great experience and adventure, so it will always have a very, very special
place in my heart, my first experience as chef. And just the message that it sent, that a Paralympic athlete can
represent any athlete in this country, I think that's pretty amazing," Petitclerc said.
The chef de mission is the team leader and spokesman for Canadian athletes at the Games.
Canadian Paralympic athletes applauded Petitclerc's appointment Monday, exactly two years out from opening of the
Games in Rio.
"She's one if the greatest athletes in Canadian history. Knowledge, leadership, confidence, she will bring all those
skills to our team," said Benoit Huot, who's won 19 Paralympic medals in swimming, including nine gold. "As a former
athlete maybe she has a better understanding of what we live every day, especially on the day that counts. And the
fact that she was still competing in 2008, only eight years [from Rio] before, she's still close to being an athlete."

'Total package'
David Eng, a member of Canada's wheelchair basketball team that won gold in 2012 in London, called Petitclerc "the
total package."
"Compared to all the other chefs de mission, not to say we haven't had good ones before, but they weren't athletes.
They didn't live the Paralympic life. They didn't get the medals that Chantal got," Eng said. "She's in a position where
she can share her experiences and help us reach higher heights."
Elaine Allard, a member of Canada's women's wheelchair basketball team, liked the fact Petitclerc isn't only a former
Paralympian but a woman.
"She will bring something extra: the view from the inside," Allard said.

Petitclerc said she feels better equipped to be the chef in Rio after her experience this summer in Scotland.
"Coming in from Glasgow with everything I've learned there as chef, I feel a little safer, stronger in what I need and
what I want to do because I've got this experience behind me now," she said.
Petitclerc sees the role of chef, she said, as a spokesperson, a team builder, and a mentor and inspirational leader.
She said her favourite memories from Glasgow weren't necessarily all from medal events. She recalled being the
only person in the stands wearing a Canada shirt at table tennis when Anqi Luo and Zhang Mo were playing a
women's doubles preliminary-round match.
"I could tell that it meant something to them," Petitlcerc said. "I remember coming back to the coaches lounge and
one coach was having a glass of wine, and I said 'Oh your guys did good today,' and he was really happy to know
that I was there and I saw the event. So I think that's really the kind of impact I want to have.
"That's what really drives me," she added. "I think my favourite part of the job and what's most important to me is
really to connect with the athletes and the coaches."
Former Paralympic athlete Patrick Jarvis was Canada's chef de mission for the 1988 Nagano Winter Paralympics in
Nagano, Japan.

4. Josh Vander Vies

Photo: Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

Photo by Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

Born: 1984 | Height: 33 | Sport: Boccia (BC4 Mixed Singles and Doubles)

Best Results:
2011 Parapan American Games Guadalajara, Mexico Bronze (singles)
2012 Paralympic Games London, England Bronze (doubles)
Best Singles World Ranking: 7th January 2010
Best Doubles World Ranking: 3rd May 2013

Biography
Josh Vander Vies is a Canadian former international boccia player, 2004 Paralympian, 2011 Parapan
American Games bronze medalist in singles and 2012 Paralympic bronze medalist in doubles.
In 2006, the boccia players of the world elected Josh to the International Boccia Committee as
Athlete Representative for a two-year term. He acted as Athlete Council Representation on the
Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) Board of Directors, and chaired the CPC Athletes Council
from 2008 2012. He holds an honours double major in Political Science and French from the
University of Western Ontario and a law degree from the University of British Columbia.
Josh is the President of AthletesCAN Canadas association of national team athletes from all sports.

5. Carl Joseph

Student-Athlete
Inducted 2009
Carl "Sugarfoot" Joseph's story is the stuff of which legends are made. His indomitable spirit has provided inspiration
and hope across the globe.
Joseph earned eight letters in three sports at Madison High School. Born without a left leg, he declined to use a
prosthesis and participated in football, basketball and track & field on one leg. Joseph started at noseguard in football
his sophomore year, and was named Big Bend Player of the Week for his seven solo tackles and four assists during a
game. As a junior, he was named Lineman of the Week for recovering three fumbles and making four solo tackles.
Also a starter his senior year, Joseph had 11 solo tackles and six assists in the season opener. His best game was

his senior homecoming contest, in which he recovered a key fumble, knocked down two passes, had eight solo
tackles and six assists in a shut-out victory over Taylor High School.
In basketball, Joseph averaged 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots over 20 games on the junior varsity
team. He made the varsity team his senior year, averaging four points and three rebounds, and even blocking a shot
into the bleachers. Joseph was a district high jump champion in track & field with a personal best of 5 feet 10 inches,
and had personal bests of 40 feet in the shot put and 130 feet in the discus throw.
After high school, he was invited by Jackie Sherrill, then head football coach for the University of Pittsburgh, to
become manager of the football team during the 1980-81 school year. Joseph returned to Florida and played
linebacker and lineman for Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, and coached at Madison and Jefferson
County Middle-Senior High School in Monticello.
His story has been featured on "That's Incredible," "The Today Show," "To Tell the Truth," on NFL halftime shows, and
in Jet magazine. Joseph was honored by his hometown at "Carl Joseph Appreciation Day" in May of 1980. He was
named the Most Courageous Athlete of 1981 by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association, and is the subject of a
biography, "One of a Kind: The Legend of Carl Joseph."

6. JOMAR MAALAM
Born with no legs, Jomar Maalam becomes the first amputee swimmer from
Western Mindanao to compete in Palarong Pambansa

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines -- Two days before the official start of Palarong
Pambansa, the men's high school swim team of Region 9 (Western Mindanao)
stretched before their final workout.

They goofed around like kids, shooting jokes at each other, shirtless under the
scorching summer sun.
Among them is 16-year-old Jomar Maalam, an athlete from Zamboanga del Sur.
He joined the group in stretching his arms. But when it came to leg stretches, he
waited for his teammates to finish.
Maalam was born without legs.
Without limbs just below his knees, Maalam learned to swim and keep afloat
using only his upper body. He learned to swim as a child, having lived by the
ocean and surrounded by family members who are fishermen.
This year, he is poised to compete in his first-ever Palarong Pambansa, the
country's largest sporting event which gathers the best student-athletes
nationwide.
"I'm nervous. It's hard," he told Rappler. He spoke in mixed Filipino and Bisaya,
laughing nervously.
According to Dennis Buco, a Department of Education (DepEd) Special
Education (SPED) teacher who serves as Maalam's coach and guardian in
Palaro, Maalam is the first-ever amputee swimmer from the region.
He has always wanted to be a competitive swimmer. One of 10 siblings, he
started participating in competitions just last year against regular swimmers.
He never won -- at least not on his own. Maalam's sole medal, a gold, is from a
relay team he was part of. "Regional champions," he said proudly.
This is the first time Maalam will be competing against other athletes with
disabilities. He is optimistic about his chances, and said he is gunning for gold.
Maalam will compete with other male athletes, under the age of 25, who have no
limbs below the knee. There is one other category for amputee swimmers --

those without limbs above the knee. Maalam will be competing in all 3 events for
amputees: the 50m freestyle, 50m breast stroke and 50m backstroke.

7. Oscar Pistorius

Physically Disabled Athletes

South African sprint runner Oscar Pistorius competes in championships for below-knee
amputees and also for able-bodied athletes. Both of his legs below the knee were
amputated when he was just 11 months old. He runs with Flex-Foot Cheetah which is a Jshaped carbon-fiber prosthetics developed by biomedical engineer Van Phillips.He is widely
referred as the fastest man on no legs and was nicknamed the Blade Runner. He won a
gold medal and a bronze medal in 2004 Athens Paralympics, 3 gold medals in 2008 Beijing
Paralympics and 2 gold medals and a silver medal in 2012 London Paralympics. Pistorius
entered in able-bodied international competitions after becoming a Paralympics champion
and won the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.

8. Bethany Hamilton

American professional surfer Bethany Hamilton won the Rell Sun Menehune in 1998 and
Open Womens Division of the NSSA in 2002. She survived a shark attack in 2003 where
her left arm was bitten off. After she lost her left hand, she returned again to professional
surfing while proving herself as one of the very best surfers of the whole world and
numerous titles such as NSSA National Competition in 2005 and ONeill Island Girl Junior
Pro tournament in the same year. Hamilton recently won the Surf n Sea Pipeline Womens
Pro in 2014 in USA. Besides surfing, she wrote about her experience in her autobiography
called Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board in
2004. A feature film called Soul Surfer was also released upon the book in April 2011.

9. Natalia Partyka

Top 10 Physically Disabled Athletes in Sports

Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka participates in competitions for athletes with
disabilities and also participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes. She reached the

last 32 of the 2012 London Olympic womens table tennis competition. Natalia won her first
international table tennis medal in the 1999 disabled World Championships and competed
at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney at the age of just 11 becoming the worlds
youngest Paralympian ever. She won three gold medals at the European Paralympic
Championships in 2007. She represented Poland in both the 2008 Summer Olympics and
the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and won a gold medal in the singles event and
silver in the team event

10. Terry Fox

Physically Disabled Athletes

Canadian athlete, cancer research activist and humanitarian Terry Fox recovered from a
fatal car accident on November 12, 1976 and was diagnosed with a form of cancer called
osteosarcoma for which his leg had to be amputated. He was the youngest person ever to
be named the Order of Canada. He was named a member of the Canadian wheelchair
basketball team for the national championship in Edmonton and won three national titles
and was named an all-star by the North American Wheelchair Basketball Association in
1980. He participated in a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer
research in 1980. Terry ran contentiously for 143 days across 5,373 kilometres, which
ultimately cost him his life, and he died on June 28, 1981

11. Ron Santo

Physically Disabled Athletes

American third baseman in Major League Baseball Ron Santo played for Chicago Cubs
from 1960 to 1974. He ended his career in second ranking among third basemen with .464
slugging average, 1,331 runs batted in, 3,779 total bases and 1,108 walks. Ron was the
winner of five consecutive Gold Glove Awards of the National League for defensive fielding
excellence at third base from 1964 to 1968. He made to the All-Star steam nine times and
after his retirement, Chicago Cubs retired the jersey Number 10 which he wore throughout
his career. He was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012. He went through
the amputation of the lower half of both his legs for his severe diabetes problem. This
baseball legend died on December 3, 2010.