Madelyn Ehlers (17 February 1966 – 29 December 2020) was a Paralympic athletics competitor with an intellectual disability. She won two silver medals at the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap held in Madrid, Spain. She was born on 17 February 1966) in Brisbane, Queensland. She was born with brain damage and didn't speak until she was six. She became interested in athletics when working at a Red Cross sheltered workshop. The

Endeavour Foundation Endeavour Foundation is a not-for-profit charity headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the largest disability service providers in Australia, employing over 1800 staff and supported by 1200 volunteers. The organisation ...

assisted her in her athletics career. At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap in Madrid, Spain, she won silver medals in the Women's Shot Put and Women's Discus. She did not compete at the

1996 Atlanta Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...

due her events not being on the program. Competing at the 1998 IPC Athletics World Championships, she finished fourth in the Women's Shot Put. At the

2000 Sydney Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

, she finished sixth in the Women's Javelin F20 and seventh in the Women's Shot Put F20. After her retirement from athletics, she took up coaching and ten pin bowling. In 2009, she was working at Wesley Mission Work Solutions. Madelyn died in the same year as her father (2020) after a brief but ravaging battle with cancer. In 1993, she was awarded the Brisbane Lord Mayor Australia Day Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehlers, Marilyn Paralympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Australian female discus throwers Australian female javelin throwers Australian female shot putters Intellectual Disability category Paralympic competitors Athletes from Brisbane 1966 births 2020 deaths Competitors in athletics with intellectual disability 20th-century Australian sportswomen Sportswomen from Queensland