Cindy Ouellet (born December 8, 1988) is a Canadian

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player.

Early life

Cindy Ouellet was born on December 8, 1988, in

Rivière-du-Loup Rivière-du-Loup (; 2021 population 20,118) is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Kamouraska. Its one of ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. At age 12 she was diagnosed with

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

which quickly ended her dream of becoming a soccer player and skier.

Career

Ouellet took up

in 2005. She is classified as a 3.5 point player. She won a gold medal in 2007 at

Canada Games The Canada Games (french: Jeux du Canada) is a multi-sport event held every two years, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. They represent the highest level of national competition for Canadian athletes. Two ...

for

, and joined the women's senior team later that year. She made her Paralympic debut at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. At the 2010 World Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

she won a bronze one following by a silver medal at the 2011 Parapan American Games in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In 2011, Ouellet joined Canada's first-ever Women's U25 National Team, which she led at the inaugural Women's U25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in St. Catharines,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, in July 2011. Ouellet was named to the all-star team and finished fourth in overall tournament scoring. She was named MVP of the 2011 CWBL Women's National Championships after leading Quebec to its first-ever gold medal victory. , she is attending

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

, where she wants to get PhD in

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

, and participates in the women's wheelchair basketball team there. In 2013, she was awarded a

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

and was again named MVP at the CWBL Women's Championship. She was part of the team that won a gold medal at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in July 2014, and silver at the

2015 Parapan American Games The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Pa ...

in August 2015. In 2016 she participated at

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

weight lifting competition. In a 2018 interview with

Radio Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government ...

she said that she will participate in 2 more Paralympic competitions. She mentioned that if it won't be in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

it will be in Tokyo in 2020 and

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), was an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the Inte ...

, China.

Awards

* Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013) *Wheelchair Basketball Canada Female Athlete of the Year (2012) *Women's U25 World Championships tournament all-star team (2011) *CWBL Women's National Championships tournament all-star team (2012) *CWBL Women's National Championships tournament all-star team (2010) *Wheelchair Basketball Canada Junior Athlete of the Year (2007)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouellet, Cindy 1988 births Living people Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Canada Canadian women's wheelchair basketball players Sportspeople from Quebec People from Rivière-du-Loup Wheelchair basketball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics University of Alabama alumni Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Paralympic cross-country skiers of Canada