Louzanne Coetzee (born 18 April 1993) is a South African

para-athlete Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practised by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair rac ...

Career

Coetzee was born blind as a result of a hereditary condition called Leber congenital amaurosis and competes in the T11 disability class, for athletes with the highest level of visual impairment. In 2017, Coetzee broke the 5000 m (women) world record in her disability class, while in April 2018 she became the first visually impaired athlete to compete at the

World University Cross Country Championships The World University Cross Country Championships is an international biennial cross country running competition for student athletes, organised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The 2012 edition of the competition featured 76 ...

in Switzerland. Coetzee competed 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 ...

representing

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in the Women's 1500 metres. She was, however, disqualified when her guide, Khotatso Mokone, was deemed to have provided illegal assistance. In 2021, Coetzee competed at the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, winning the silver medal in the

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

final in a new Africa record of 4:40.96 and the bronze medal in the T12 women's marathon in a new T11 world record time of 3:11:13.

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coetzee, Louzanne 1993 births Living people South African female middle-distance runners South African female marathon runners Paralympic athletes for South Africa Sportspeople from Bloemfontein Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for South Africa Paralympic bronze medalists for South Africa Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century South African women 21st-century South African people