The London 2012 Paralympics has been started with a lively opening ceremony on Wednesday, 29 August 2012. This event will end on 9 September 2012. The 2012 Paralympics is hosted by London for extraordinary athletes. As this big event has been already started, so get ready to be surprised by the super-humans. From now to next 11 days, British public will see the great efforts of super-humans that perhaps they have never seen before. This event will certainly change the way people observe one another and may change their lives. Do you want to know which athletes are participating in this event? These athletes have come after recovering from serious injuries and challenging medical probability. All those athletes have come to verify once again that everything is possible in this world and to win Great Britain's gold medals. Refer this article to know some top extraordinary athletes of London 2012 Paralympics.
Hannah Cockroft:
Hannah Cockroft is world champ in the 100m and 200m T34 wheelchair races and categorized in T34 in the Paralympic classification system. When she races, she binds her hair in bunches and wears long, stripey socks. This 20 years old, German athlete is known as Rocket-woman because she is so fast when racing. Her hobbies are singing and wheelchair basketball. She has completed her sport studies from Calderdale College, Halifax, GBR. From 2012, Peter Eriksson (CAN) is her coach. Her chairs’ price is approximately £3,000 for the frames alone. She always colors her nails similar to her racing kit.
The wheels of her chair were destroyed the day before her race at last year’s World Championships, and she could not get them back on. She was informed that she would not be able to race the next day in the 200 metres. She was shocked and started crying. But her chair was fixed and she won second gold at the end of her 100m. She broke the world record in the Olympic Stadium with the time of 18.56 secs in the T34 100m in May. She became the first person to complete this T34 100m in 17.60 secs at the Swiss National Championship. She broke 15 world records and became dual world champion in 2011. She broke seven world records in only eight days in 2010, just after completing her four A-levels. She recounts her accomplishments in simple manner that make her more extraordinary.
Hannah Cockroft had two cardiac arrests directly after birth so two parts of her body was injured and she got weak hips and distorted legs. When she was in secondary school, a disabled sports team permitted her to join the wheelchair basketball thus she got a little chance to play sport. She never ran due to his disability but she is going fast in wheelchair racing. As per her, if she can motivate people to begin Paralympic sport then it’s all worth it.
Libby Clegg:
Libby Clegg is a Paralympic silver medalist and recent World Champion in the T12 100m and 200m sprints. This 22 years old athlete, a professional disability runner from England, competed for Great Britain in the T12 100 m and 200 m in the 2008 Summer Paralympics and won a silver medal for the T12 100 m race. She won gold in the 100 metres and a bronze in the 200m in the IPC World Athletic Championships in January 2011. Libby won two gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the IPC Athletics European Championships in June 2012. She won a NVQ award in Personal Training and Soft Tissue Therapy from Loughborough College in 2011. Keith Antoine is her coach from 2011. She wants to set up her own sport therapy hospital in the future.
Libby Clegg started running at the age of nine years to release pressure. Nearly at the same time, she got diagnosed for her eye condition and confirmed as disabled. She suffers from Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy disease, a deteriorating eye condition that gives her only minor peripheral vision in her left eye and makes her visually impaired so she is registered as blind. In spite of this, she has got a remarkable amount of achievements as a young athlete. Her younger brother, James, is also participating for Great Britain in swimming.
Abdi Jama:
Abdi Jama is a Paralympic and World Cup bronze medalist. He was honored as Best Newcomer at the 2008 British Wheelchair Sports Awards. He has participated in many international competitions for Britain. At present, this 29 years old athlete is the one point player in the GB wheelchair basketball squad. He got his major breakthrough in sport, a trial with a top Italian team, at the age of 19 when a former top GB player Steve Caine saw his potential and it became a turning point in his life. In 2009, he competed for the Perth Wildcats in Australia. Murray Treseder is his coach. At present, he is playing for Wolverhampton Rhinos. He wants to get that gold medal in London for his satisfaction so he will make his complete efforts.
When he was six years old, he came in Liverpool from war torn Somalia and settled in Toxteth area of the city with his family. He was an active child and wanted to become a footballer as it was his first sporting goal. But suddenly, everything was changed; he got paralyzed after an accident at the aged of fourteen years. Abdi got help from Gerry Kinsella, director of the Greenbank Centre, Liverpool to practice on wheelchair at 3 miles daily during his teenage years as well as use instructive services to develop his abilities, fitness and inspiration for the wheelchair basketball sport.
Lucy Shuker:
Lucy Shuker, a British wheelchair tennis player, is now one of the uppermost ranking women in the sport in Britain. At present, she is on 13th rank in the world rankings for singles and doubles. She got the top 8 position by beating 8 of the women ranked above her in singles. So, she is hopeful to keep on and raise her ranking for a seeding position in the London Paralymics, September 2012. She also awarded with the 2005 Wheel Power Sports Award for the category, "Individual Female Lucy Shuker - Beijing 2008 Achievement Award". Natalie Ayton is her coach.
When she was eight years old, she started playing badminton for her country, Hampshire. She suffers from paralysis and her spinal cord had been severed after a motorbike accident in 2001. As she discharged from the hospital, she began playing tennis. After few time, she joined a coaching group in Taunton. She suffered from tennis elbow in her right/racket arm, so she was out for a long time. She also had attraction for other things including riding and horses.
Samuel Ingram:
Samuel Ingram competes in the Judo -90 kg match for Great Britain. This 27 years old athlete is categorized as B3 for the under 90kg weight class. He competed for Britain first time in 2007 and awarded with a Paralympic bronze. His brother, Joe is world silver medalist in the under 100kg. He practiced for Judo for a couple of months between closing of college in Coventry and beginning university in Falmouth. He joined the Coventry Judo Club, Coventry, GBR. Jean-Paul Bell is his coach.
Samuel Ingram completed his study from Falmouth College of Arts, Falmouth, GBR. He suffers from eye color deficiency so he can see everything in black and white, or in shades of grey colors. He selects color on the basis of his guesses so sometime he gets it wrong. He is suffering from many injuries. He suffers from the injury of cartilage in his right knee at the start of 2012.
Matthew Skelhon:
Matthew Skelhon, a British sport shooter, awarded with gold medal in the SH1 10 metre prone air rifle event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He achieved a world record at the same score in the first round of 600. This 27 years old shooter has started this sports with the aim of winning gold so this year, he is hoping for wining a medal of some color. He is the member of Whittlesey Rifle Club, Peterborough, GBR. He was injured by a car accident in 2005 that left him with broken back at the age of 20 years. In 2006, he started archery and later shooting after joining the Disabled Target Shooting Association of Great Britain in April, 2006. His talent was noticed at the WheelPower Inter Spinal Unit Games.
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