Tragic news: a top-tier Canadien curlings has spinal cord problems.
As the most decorated wheelchair curler in the world, Sonja Gaudet holds three gold medals from the Paralympic Games. At the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, the Team Canada veteran increased her gold medal total and contributed to Canada’s success in another championship. She carried the Canadian flag during the Opening Ceremonies of those Games.
Wheelchair curling made its debut in the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, and Gaudet competed in wheelchair curling in front of his home audience in Vancouver in 2010 during the Paralympic Winter Games. Adding three gold medals to her impressive resume are her victories in the World Wheelchair Curling Championships in 2013, 2011, and 2009.
Following his spinal cord damage from a horse fall, Gaudet looked for people who might be able to counsel her on maintaining the healthy way of life she had before the accident. She looked to Rick Hansen, who has served as a phenomenal global role model for individuals with disabilities. Since Rick’s children are the same age as Gaudet’s and were three and six years old when she had her accident, Gaudet will tell you that during their numerous meetings, she “bombarded him with questions about adaptive sporting opportunities, how to navigate through life with a spinal cord injury and about raising kids from a wheelchair.”
The head of Team Canada thinks that athletes with disabilities can gain much from the power of sport. Sport provides so many wonderful tools and encourages a healthy lifestyle for life: self-worth, assurance, integrity, cooperation, deference, self-belief, persistence, and resolve. There is an unending list.
With a strong interest in accessibility concerns, Gaudet uses her knowledge and experience to help develop new recreational activities for individuals with mobility challenges in her hometown of Vernon. As an ambassador for the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Rick Hansen Foundation, she inspires and motivates people of all ages with the power of sport and her own story of overcoming adversity.
