Chantal Petitclerc Canadian wheelchair athlete competing in various distance races Date of Birth: 15.12.1969 Country: Canada

Biography of Chantal Petitclerc

Canadian wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc is one of the most accomplished athletes in her sport. She was born on December 15, 1969, in Saint-Marc-des-Carrières, Quebec. At the age of thirteen, she lost the use of both her legs when a heavy shed door fell on her.

Her life took a significant turn when her high school physical education teacher, Gaston Jacques, convinced her to try swimming. It was her first introduction to sports and a test of her endurance. At the age of seventeen, she was introduced to wheelchair racing by her coach Pierre Pomerleau from Université Laval. In her first race on a homemade wheelchair, she lagged far behind her competitors. However, the experience ignited a passion in her, and she decided to dedicate her life to the sport.

While improving her racing performance, Petitclerc continued her education. She studied social sciences at Cégep de Sainte-Foy and later pursued history at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Her coach at the university, Peter Eriksson, has been supporting her ever since.

Petitclerc competed in her first Paralympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, winning two bronze medals. From there, she steadily accumulated medals, including fourteen gold medals, making her the most decorated Paralympian in Canadian history. In the 2000 Paralympic Games, she won two gold and two silver medals in various wheelchair racing events.

In 2004, wheelchair racing was included in the demonstration program of the Summer Olympics in Athens, where Petitclerc won the 800m race. Later that year, she added five more gold medals to her collection at the Paralympic Games in Athens.

After her remarkable achievements, Petitclerc announced that the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing would be her last international competition. However, she continued training and racing for some time. In 2008, she received the Lou Marsh Trophy as the Canadian Athlete of the Year and the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as the Female Athlete of the Year.

In addition to her athletic career, Petitclerc was selected as the flag bearer for the Canadian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She was also honored with a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto in 2009.

Following her retirement from racing, Petitclerc served as a coach and mentor for the English athletics team during the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. She worked alongside her coach Peter Eriksson. Petitclerc's record of five gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games remains unbeaten among wheelchair racers as of 2012.