THE 21 BEST PARALYMPIC ATHLETES IN HISTORY - ARTE - 2025

Today I come with a list of the 21 of the best Paralympic athletes in history, inspiration for athletes who aspire to participate in the most demanding competitions, such as the World Cups and the Olympics.

This listing does not follow any ranking criteria. The choice of these athletes has been based on their achievements and other conditions such as inspiration or personal improvement, trying to expand the largest number of champions per discipline.

1- Trischa Zorn

Orange (United States), 1964

Most awarded Paralympic athlete in history. Visually impaired swimmer, she has 51 medals to her credit, 41 being gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze.

He has participated in 7 JJ.00, being able to stand out those celebrated in Seoul in 1988, where he got 12 gold medals (10 individual and 2 per team).

2- David Lee Pearson

Stoke (UK), 1974

Pearson was born with multiple congenital arthogryposis, a disease that has not been an obstacle to having represented Great Britain in horsemanship in the Paralympics in Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London.

It has among its awards 10 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals, having been achieved in the different dressage modalities. He also holds the title of Knight of the Order of the British Empire.

3- Daniel Dias

Campinas (Brazil), 1988

Known as 'Herman', he was born with a congenital malformation of the upper limbs and the right leg. However, this was not an obstacle for him to start swimming at the age of 16.

He has participated in the Paralympics in Peking (2008) and London (2012), having obtained 10 gold medals, 4 silver and one bronze. In addition, in 2009 she won the Laureus Prize, known as the “Oscar of sport”.

4- Jonas Jacobsson

Norrköping (Sweden), 1965.

Renowned shooter, he obtained the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, the highest recognition that an athlete can receive in Sweden.

Paralyzed from the waist down, he has competed in different shooting modalities between the 1980 and 2012 Olympic Games, having obtained 17 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze medals.

5- David Weir

Wallington (UK), 1979

Weir was born with a spinal cord transection that disabled his legs. She started wheelchair racing at the age of 8 and competed in her first Olympics at Atlanta 96, when she was just 17 years old.

His successes came from Athens 2004, where he won 1 silver medal and another bronze. Later in Peking 2008 she obtained 2 gold medals, 1 silver and another bronze. But without a doubt, her best participation was in London 2012, where she won 4 gold medals against her countrymen.

6- Oscar Pistorius

Sandton (South Africa), 1986

Perhaps the best known disabled athlete in history. With both his legs amputated at eleven months of birth, Pistorius is honored to have been one of the few people to compete in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games.

Sprint runner, has a collection of 23 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals in the different modalities in which he has participated during these years in different high-level competitions.

7- Natalia Partyka

Gdanks (Poland), 1989

An excellent table tennis player despite being born without a right hand or forearm.

Like Pistorius, he belongs to the select club of athletes who have participated in both the Olympics and the Paralympics.

At the age of 11, he competed for the first time in a paralympics (Sidney 2000), having since achieved 3 gold medals, 1 beach and 1 bronze. A track record that will surely grow due to its youth.

8- Roberto Marson

Rome (Italy), 1944-2011

This multidisciplinary athlete lost mobility in his legs after falling from a tree. After this accident, Marson participated in the Tokyo 64 Paralympic games, in the categories of athletics, wheel fencing and swimming. The balance? 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals.

He retired in 1982 and by then he already had 26 Paralympic medals on his record, with Tel Aviv 68 having been his best participation (10 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze).

9- Esther Vergeer

Woerden (Netherlands), 1981

The most dominant sportswoman in history. An operation for vascular myelopathy condemned her to live in a wheelchair, but her desire to improve herself broke all expectations.

She practiced volleyball and basketball, but stood out in tennis where in addition to having a balance of 700-25 (wins / losses), she was the winner of 7 gold medals and 1 silver in her Olympic appearances.

10- Heinz Frei

Bern (Switzerland), 1958

Most successful male athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games. In 1978 he suffered an accident while climbing, which caused him to become quadriplegic.

However, this has not been an impediment to since then he has participated in the Olympic Games of 84,88,92,96,00,08 and 12 to get 14 gold, 6 silver and 11 bronze medals.

11- Teresa Perales

Zaragoza (Spain), 1975

After a neuropathy, Perales progressively lost his ability to walk, until he lost his mobility from the waist down. She learned to swim and soon began competing to be one of the most important athletes in Spain.

To his credit, he has 4 appearances in the Olympic Games. (2000,2004,2008 and 2012) and a list of 22 medals (6 gold, 6 silver, 10 bronze).

12- Ed Owen

Kokomo (Ireland) 1946-2008

He contracted polio at age six, but by age 14 he was already bouncing a basketball over a chair. He participated in 7 Olympic Games and also worked as a coach for some years.

Although he excelled in basketball, Owen was highly versatile, leading to not only numerous gold medals in wheelchair basketball, but also medals in swimming, pentathlon and discus.

13- Jacqueline Freney

Bribane (Australia), 1992

As a swimmer grandfather and father, Jacqueline soon ended up splashing in the swimming pools in her hometown. In her case because it was used as a therapy to combat the diplegia that she suffers. An obstacle that only served to become one of the best swimmers in history

Holder of the Medal of the Order of Australia, Freney won a whopping 8 gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, more than any other participant in the games.

14- Reinhild Möller

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis (Germany), 1956

First athlete with a disability to win 1 million euros in sponsorships. Möller lost half of her left leg at the age of 3, an accident that has not prevented her from being one of the most successful athletes in the history of the Paralympics.

In her career she won 19 medals in alpine skiing, exceeding all her competitors from 1980 to 2006, a stage in which she competed professionally. She also got 3 silver and 1 bronze medals in other athletics competitions.

15- Ron Stein

East St Louis (United States) 1937-2010

During his university stage, Stein fell ill with polio, which caused him to require a wheelchair to lead a normal life.

He competed in the I Paralympic Games held in Rome in 1960, demonstrating his versatility by winning in the shooting, weight and pentathlon categories, as well as winning gold with the wheelchair basketball team. In 1964 he returned to participate in the Paralympic games to obtain six gold medals and set a world record.

16- Ragnhild Myklebust

Oslo (Norway), 1943

During his childhood, Myklebust was diagnosed with polio. He is considered one of the best athletes in the winter games.

The reason for this is based on his 22 gold medals, 3 silver and 2 bronze obtained between 1988 and 2002. He has represented the Nordic country in different modalities such as biathlon, cross-country skiing (16 gold medals) or speed races. on sled.

17- Béatrice Hess

Colmar (France), 1961

With 20 Olympic golds, only surpassed by Zorn and Myklebust in the medal table. A swimmer with cerebral palsy, she receives the affectionate nickname 'Torpedo' in her native France.

Hess has managed to get at least one medal in all his Olympic participations (20 gold, 5 silver), highlighting his presence in Sydney 2000, where he managed to set 9 world records.

18- Darren Kenny

Salisbury (UK), 1970

Kenny at the age of 19 suffered a serious fall on the Tour of Ireland, which caused cerebral palsy. It wasn't until he was 30 that he decided to get back on a bike to become arguably the best road and track cyclist in history.

Among his achievements, several world records and 6 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals. In addition, thanks to her ability to excel and her achievements, she has the Star of British Order.

19- Mayumi Narita

Kawasaki (Japan), 1970

Narita suffered from myelitis at the age of 13 and a traffic accident in 94 that left her a quadriplegic. However, two years later she competed with the Japanese team in the Atlanta 96 Paralympics, obtaining 2 golds in the 50 and 100 freestyle swimming categories.

Then came Sidney 2000 and Athens 2004, where Narita expanded her track record to a total of 15 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals.

20- Franz Nietlispach

Basel (Switzerland), 1958

Idol in the Helvetian country. He has competed between 1980 and 2008 in the different Olympic events in the categories of table tennis and wheelchair athlete. In the latter he stood out especially, leaving some record marks.

Until his retirement, Nietlispach has managed to win 14 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals, being among the most successful athletes in the history of the Paralympic games.

21- Tracey Ferguson

Ontario (Canada), 1974

Tracey suffered a setback when at the age of 9 she had a complicated back operation that left her paralyzed. Although her ambition was to be a swimmer, in the end she opted for wheelchair basketball, a choice that has led her to be considered one of the best players in history.

In his record, he has 3 gold and 1 bronze medals in the different Paralympic Games in which he has participated, in addition to 5 world championships.

Noteworthy could be others such as: Anna Maria Toso, Knut Lundstrom, Maria Scutti, Michael Walker, Anna Schaffelhuber, Lauren Woolstencroft, Michael Edgson, Robert Figl or Ellie Simmonds.