Ten Best Athletes in Paralympic: Top Inspiring Paralympians

Paralympic Games are more than a competitive sporting event for persons with disabilities. With their core values of courage, determination, inspiration and equality, they teach much more than just ‘sporting spirit’. Paralympians are seen as an inspiration by disabled as well as non-disabled people. So, here we are presenting a curated list of the world’s top athletes in Paralympic. These are the best athletes who have shown and proved their grit by performing consistently well in the Paralympic Games.

Best Paralympians: Legends of Paralympics

Following are some of the legendary paralympians who prove to be the best in their respective sport in Paralympics.

1. Trischa Zorn

With her 46 individual Paralympic medals including 32 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze, Trischa Zorn can be considered the most successful Paralympic athlete to date. This American Paralympic Swimmer is blind since birth. She was born with aniridia and was classified legally blind, later she got two artificial iris implants that improved her vision to 20/150. Though this did not affect her disability classification in the sports. She set 8 world records in her category of disability after the Sydney Games in 2000. In the year 2012, she was inducted into the International Paralympian Hall of Fame. Apart from being an athlete, she is also a coach, lawyer and teacher for children with special needs.

2. Ragnhild Myklebust

With her 27 medals including 22 gold, Ragnhild Myklebust holds the record for most ever medals won at Winter Paralympics. What’s more amazing is that she started competing in the winter games after entering her 40s. She is a Norweigian Nordic Skier who has won Paralympic medals in short, middle and long-distance cross-country races, relays, biathlon and ice sledge racing. She is a Polio Survivor who has set the bars really high for other athletes.

3. Beatrice Hess

Beatrice Hess is a Paralympic swimmer from France and is considered one of the best swimmers in the world. She has bagged 20 gold and 5 silver Paralympic medals. She has mild cerebral palsy and competes in the S5 disability category. At the 2000 Sydney Paralympic, she broke 9 world records.

4. Jonas Jacobsson

He is a Swedish sports shooter who has won 30 Paralympic medals including 17 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze. He was born with a condition that made it compulsory for him to use a wheelchair for his mobility. He started competitive shooting at the young age of 8 and participated in the Paralympics at the age of 15 years. He has won gold medals at nine consecutive Paralympic games. His life story is recorded in a biographical book named The Will to Win: Shooter Jonas Jacobson.

5. Natalia Partyka

Natalia, a Polish Table Tennis player, was born without her right hand. She is the world’s youngest-ever Paralympian as she competed in the 2000 Summer Paralympic when she was just 11 years old. She has won 5 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal in Paralympics. She is one of those few athletes who compete in both Paralympics as well as the Olympics.

6. Ellie Simmonds

She was the youngest British Paralympian when she made her debut in the 2008 Summer Olympics at the age of 13. She won two gold medals in the S6 category in 2008. She again won two gold medals in the 2012 London Paralympics and repeated her victory in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. This paralympic swimmer with a genetic disorder called the achondroplasia has proved her potentials in her short span of Paralympic career.

7. Chantal Petitclerc

This Canadian athlete has won 20 gold, 9 silver and 3 bronze Paralympic Medals. She was not born with any disability but got disabled due to a spinal cord injury. She competes in the T54 category. She is a wheelchair racer. She was awarded the Paralympic Sport Award for Best Female Athlete for her excellent performance in the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympic where she set 3 world records.

8. Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum

She is a para-athlete from Israel who has won 30 Paralympic Medals including 15 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze. She has represented her country in multiple sports including Athletics, Shot Put, Javelin Throw, Discus Throw, Pentathlon, Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball and Table Tennis. She is one of the most versatile athletes in the world who is great at every sport in which she competes.

9. David Lee Pearson

David Lee Pearson is a British Equestrian Dressage Rider who has won 11 gold medals in Paralympics. He was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita due to which he can’t walk unaided but he has proved himself to be a great rider even against able-bodied riders. He has won medals in championship dressage, freestyle dressage and team dressage. He was knighted in 2017 for his services to equestrianism, so technically he is Sir David Lee Pearson now.

10. Tanni Grey-Thompson

Born with Spina Bifida, Tanni Grey Thompson is one of the most successful disabled athletes in the UK. Though she also participated in wheelchair basketball, she is famously known as a wheelchair racer. She won 11 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze Paralympic medals during her career. She held over 30 world records in her name before retiring from sports.

There are several more para-athletes who have done great in their games and are worth recognition. These were the athletes who are representative examples of sportsmanship and persistence shown by athletes with a disability.