Doris Mader (born 3 February 1976) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player who has competed for her country at the national level. She won the silver medal in the women's individual class 3 table tennis at 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 ...

Career

Doris Mader started playing

when she was seven, in part due to her father who was a table tennis instructor. In 2002, while studying

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

, she lost motion in her legs. This was caused by a

tumour A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

on her spine. Following surgery, she underwent rehabilitation at the Weißer Hof facility in Klosterneuburg. Following her disability, she took up

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

table tennis, competing for Austria. She met Andreas Vevera while at Weißer Hof, and the two trained together in the sport. Both competed 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 ...

, China, where Vevera won the gold medal in the men's individual class 1, while Mader finished fifth in women's individual class 3. Those roles were reversed at the 2012 Games in London, England, where Vevera was eliminated early. He then coached Mader as she won the silver medal in her class, following defeat by Sweden's Anna-Carin Ahlquist in the final. Mader competed again at 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, but without Vevera for the first time. However, Mader failed to win any medals after being eliminated from the tournament in the round of 16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mader, Doris Living people Austrian female table tennis players Paralympic silver medalists for Austria Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 20th-century Austrian women 21st-century Austrian women Paralympic athletes for Austria 1976 births Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in table tennis Place of birth missing (living people)