List of Paralympic Athletes That Have Competed In the Paralympics and Olympics Information

This is a list of athletes who have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics.

Athletes with disabilities at the Olympic Games

Neroli Susan Fairhall MBE (26 August 1944 – 11 June 2006) was a New Zealand athlete, who was the first paraplegic competitor in the Olympic games (Fairhall won gold when archery was first introduced to the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982.)

Five athletes with disabilities, all women, have competed in both the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, all at the Summer Games. Another athlete, Canadian visually impaired Brian McKeever, was selected to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, but was ultimately set aside by his coach.^[1]. However Brian's brother, Robin McKeever, who has won several medals at the Winter Paralympics as Brian's sighted guide, participated in cross-country skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In addition, long before the Paralympics, American gymnast George Eyser, who had a wooden leg, competed at the 1904 Summer Olympics, and won three gold medals, two silver and a bronze, including a gold in the vault, an event which then included a jump over a long horse without aid of a springboard. There have also been other amputee medallists at the Olympic Games prior to the creation of the Paralympics. Oliver Halassy of Hungary, whose left leg was amputated below the knee, won three medals (two gold and a silver) in water polo, in 1928, 1932 and 1936. Karoly Takacs, also of Hungary, won gold in shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics. His right hand had been "shattered by a grenade" ten years earlier, and he had taught himself to shoot with his left. Finally, deaf Hungarian fencer Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő won two individual medals (a gold and a bronze) and five team medals at the Olympics between 1960 and 1976. Although her Olympic career coincided with the beginning of the Paralympics, she never competed in the latter, because Paralympic fencing is wheelchair fencing.^[2][3]

Summer

Olympic medal winners who became Paralympic medal winners

There is at present only one athlete who has won a medal at the Olympics prior to becoming disabled, and has then gone on to win medals at the Paralympics. Hungarian fencer Pál Szekeres won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, then was disabled in a bus accident, and went on to win three gold medals and three bronze in wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics. He has the distinction of being the only person ever to have won medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.^[4][5][6]

Sighted guides

There are sighted guides, such as Robin McKeever who has participated in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

References

1. ^ Visually impaired skier McKeever to be first winter athlete in both Olympics, Paralympics
2. ^ "Amputee Olympians". The Herald. August 4, 2008. http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/thearchive/display.var.2416451.0.Amputee_Olympians.php. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
3. ^ International Olympic Committee authorlink=International Olympic Committee. "St. Louis 1904". http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1904. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
4. ^ "Pal Szekeres : médaillé olympique et paralympique !", Radio Canada, September 23, 2004
5. ^ "Hungarian Paralympic athlete Pal Szekeres's goal is to win gold", Xinhua, September 3, 2008
6. ^ "Mr. Pal Szekeres", International Paralympic Committee

See also

• Disability categories at the Paralympic Games

Categories:

• Paralympic athletes (track and field)
• Lists of Olympic competitors
• Paralympics-related lists

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