Alfonsina Maldonado (born 9 December 1984) is a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an agricultural technician,

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

, lecturer and television personality.

Biography

Alfonsina Maldonado is the daughter of Marisa Urse and Jorge Maldonado. At the age of six months, she suffered an accident which left first degree burns on the entire left side of her body. She spent 32 days in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and underwent 17

surgeries Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

, resulting in the loss of her left hand. Until age five, she was a patient at the burn unit of the . She attended School No. 105 Costas de Aria in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for her primary education, which she rode to on horseback. She entered the Florida School of Poultry, where she graduated with a degree in agricultural technology. She also took a course at the

Uruguayan Army The National Army of Uruguay ( es, Ejército Nacional del Uruguay) is the land force An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" ...

's Riding School to be an

equine-assisted therapy Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) encompasses a range of treatments that involve activities with horses and other equines to promote human physical and mental health. The use of EAT has roots in antiquity, and EAT applies to physical health issues i ...

instructor. When Maldonado was 21 years old, she left her country, home, family, and friends to move to Europe. She first lived in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, where she got a job. She then moved to Yeguada del Lago in

Caldes de Malavella Caldes de Malavella is a municipality of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Selva in Catalonia, Spain. In 2014, its population was 7,130. The place was formerly very famous for its thermal baths. Transport Public transport is generally acces ...

, where she worked for five years and met Fandango, a horse with which she tried out for the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in London. Maldonado gives motivational lectures to people who lack an extremity, demonstrating that this is not an impediment to being happy. In June 2016, she published an autobiographical book titled ''El desafío de vivir'' (The Challenge of Living).

Competition

Maldonado tried out for the 2012 London Paralympics as the only Latin American in the Grade IV Grand Prize category. She finished two points short of the minimum score to qualify. She next prepared with another horse, Zig-Zag, to participate in the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio de Janeiro. She traveled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

for the last qualifying event. In March 2016, she was invited to Rio to compete in

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

. This was her first Paralympic appearance. She finished 8th in the event, with a score of 59.857. She remained positive despite being disappointed with the result.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maldonado, Alfonsina 1984 births Living people Autobiographers Spanish motivational speakers Paralympic equestrians for Uruguay People from Florida Department Uruguayan amputees Uruguayan female equestrians Women autobiographers Women motivational speakers Uruguayan emigrants to Spain Uruguayan autobiographers