Paralympic Athletes
Paralympic athletes are probably our most amazing athletes. Here they are with information about themselves and their sport!
Athletics:
Jessica Hamill
Jessica Hamill is 21 years old. She was born in Invercargill. She is an amazing Paralympic athlete, she does both the javelin, discus and the shot put! She got Silver in shot put at the 2006 World Champs; Gold in Shot put, discus, javelin at NZ Nationals 2007; Gold in shot put, silver in discus, javelin at the Australian Nationals 2007! She has broken many world records! She has been described as very determined!
Terry Faleva'ai
Terry Faleva'ai lives in Waikato. Terry Faleva'ai is ranked fourth in the world for shot-put and fourth for javelin. As well as training fot shot put and javelin he also is a student. Terry has muscular dystrophy. It is a disorder that weakens muscles. Terry is an incredible athlete and really wants to go to the London Olympics. He has also done a talk at a school to talk about his disorder.
Kate Horan
Kate Horan was born in Wellington and she is a 200m runner. She got a silver medal for the Women's 200m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when two runners ahead of her tripped over. Kate Horan got her leg amputated when she was 5 years old. She started running because it made her feel better about herself. She runs the 200m in 28 seconds.
Tim Prendergast
Tim Prendergast lives in Wellington. He is a 1500m and a 5000m runner. He is an amazing athlete gaining Gold in the 800m at the 2004 Athens Paralympics; Silver in the 800m and 1500m at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics; Gold in the 5000m at the World Champs in 2007; Silver in the 800m at the 2006 World Champs; Silver in the 1500m at the 2006 World Champs; Gold in the 800m at the 2006 World Indoor champs. Tim only has 5% of his eyesight vision remaining.
Matt Slade
Matt Slade won gold in the 200m at the Paralympic Games in the Athens Olympics in 2004. He lives in Auckland. He won Silver in 200m at the Sydney Paralympics, 2000; Bronze in the 100m at the Sydney Paralympics, 2000; Gold in the 200m at 2006 World Champs; Silver in the 100m at the 2006 World Champs! He is an amazing athlete also getting Gold in the 2005 Ontario Athletics Champs in 200m and 100m; Gold in the World Wheelchair Games 200m and 100m in Christchurch in 2003; Gold at the 2002 German Nationals in the 200m, 100m; Gold at the 1999 Southern Cross Games in Sydney in the 200m and 100m. Matt Slade remembers winning silver in the Sydney Paralympics because he could hear people yelling 'New Zealand' and he thought 'What have I done?' And while he was running looked up at the big screen and saw he was tying with another competitor!
Boccia:
The New Zealand Boccia Team
Boccia is a lot like lawn bowls except it is played by people with cerebral palsy meaning they have a wheel chair. The New Zealand Boccia team got 4th in the 2000 Sydney Olympics! The team hoping to get selected for the London Olympics is: Kerri Bonner, Henk Dijkstra, Greig Jackson, Jeremy Morriss, Liam Sanders, Amanda Slade and Maurice Toon. Good Luck!
Cycling:
New Zealand cycling team
Annemarie Donaldson, Annaliisa Farrell, Jayne Parsons, Fiona Southorn and Paula Tesoriero all make up the New Zealand paralympic cycling team. Jayne Parsons and Annemarie Donaldson came 3rd in Beijing for a track team time trial. The team hope to go to the 2012 London Olympics!
Powerlifting:
George Taamaru
George Taamaru is 38 years old. He got Gold at the 2002 World Champs, 7th in the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, 7th in the 2007 Manchester Commonwealth Games and 7th in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games! He bench lifted 222.5kg! He would love to go to the London Olympics.
Shooting:
Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson is New Zealand's best paralympic shooter. He got Gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics and bronze in 2008 in Beijing. He got gold in the 2006 and 2010 world championships. He also got fourth in Oceania championships in 2002. He is a remarkable shooter scoring 600/600 in one of his world championship events.
Swimming:
Cameron Leslie
Cameron Leslie is only 21 years old. He got gold in Beijing in 2008 in the 150m medley! In this race he took an amazing 18 seconds off his personal best! He also does the 50m Freestyle, the 200m Freestyle, the 50m Butterfly and the 50m Backstroke. He is definitely someone to look out for in the future!
Sophie Pascoe
Sophie Pascoe is only 18 years old but is a remarkable swimmer. A lawn mower accident at the age of 2 led to the loss of one of her legs below the knee. She said that her disability inspired her to swim. She was only 15 years of age when she entered the Beijing Olympics making her New Zealand's youngest at the Beijing paralympics and the youngest ever New Zealander to win a medal in the Olympics! She won gold in the 100m backstroke, 100m breastroke and the 200m medley as well as silver in the 100m butterfly!
Daniel Sharp
Daniel Sharp is 24 years old. He lives in Auckland. He competes in the 100m breastroke, the 50m freestyle and the 100m freestyle. He got Bronze at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 in the 100m breastroke. He also got Gold at the 2007 Sao Polo in the 200m Breastroke. He also got silver in the 100m breastroke in Beijing. He would love to go to the London Olympics.
Wheelchair rugby:
The Wheel Blacks
The Wheel Blacks are the New Zealand wheelchair rugby team. The team won bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics. In the World Championships they won silver in 1998 and 2006 and bronze in 1995. They also won Gold in the 2005 Oceania championships. The team is: Dan Buckingham, Tim Johnson, David Klinkhamer, Curtis Palmer, Sholto Taylor, Geremy Tinker, Jai Waite and Adam Wakeford.
