10 blind athletes in Paralympic Games that you should know
As we know, Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games are approaching. They start on August 24 and end on September 5. We will see 22 sports and 537 events. This year there will be two new disciplines, badminton and taekwondo.
A majority of the athletes who will participate in these Paralympic Games are people with visual impairments, and today we will talk about 10 of them.
Daniela Eugenia Velasco Maldonado
Daniela is a Mexican athlete with 26 years old. She´s one of the 10 most important athletes in the world. In London 2012, she got the bronze medal. Her specialty is 500 meters and she also starred in the Nike campaign "Tiempo de ser héroes".
Lucas Prado
Lucas is a Brazilian athlete with the age of 36. He lost 90% of his vision in 2003 due to retinal detachment. He won three gold medals for Brazil at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, setting a world record, and during the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Lucas won two silver medals running 100m and 400m.
Neil Fachie
Fachie is a British Paralympic multidisciplinary athlete, competing in events for individuals at the age of 37. Neil participated as a sprinter in Beijing in 2008 and as a tandem cyclist in London 2012. He won the gold medal in the Men´s 1 km trial in London.
Matt Levy
Matt is an Australian Paralympic swimmer at the age of 34. Levy has cerebral palsy and vision impairment due to being born 15 weeks premature. Levy first competed for Australia in 2003; that year, he broke the 200 m freestyle short course world record. At the 2012 London Paralympics, he won five medals: gold, silver, and three bronze medals.
Silvania Costa de Olivera
Costa is a Brazilian Paralympic athlete. She represented Brazil in Rio de Janeiro 2016. Silvana obtained the gold medal in the women's long jump event in the T11 category. She has been visually impaired since she was 10 years old. Her siblings also have this disability. One of her brothers, Ricardo Costa, also a Paralympic athlete, won a gold medal in 2016, in the men's long jump category.
Sergio Alamar
Sergio is a footballer who represents Spain this year at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2021. He was European champion with the Spanish national team in Rome, 2019. He also was Junior Spanish Champion in the 100m T11. If you want to know more of the Spanish Paralympic delegation you should check the image.
Susana Rodríguez Gacio
Rodríguez was born with albinism and a severe visual impairment of 90%. Since she was a child, she combines her dedication to sports with a passion for medicine. She is a Spanish doctor and paratriathlete, triathlon world champion at the Paralympic Games.
Eliana Mason
Mason is an American athlete with the age of 26. She participated in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and won a bronze medal in goalball. Eliana has participated in two World Championships and she won a gold medal in her first appearance.
Ariadna Edo Beltrán
Ariadna is a Spanish athlete who competes in adapted swimming. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the 400m freestyle event (class S13).
Cristian Exequiel Valenzuela Guzmán
Cristian is a Chilean athlete who competes in adapted athletics, winner of the first medal for Chile in Paralympic Games. He's totally blind, that's why he participates in the T-11 category of Paralympic athletics.
