Raquel Acinas Poncelas (born 12 April 1978 in L'Hospitalet) is a Spanish cyclist who has represented Spain at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

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 both road and track events. She also competed at the 2013 World Championships.

Personal

Acinas was born in L'Hospitalet, Catalan town of Spain, near Barcelona city. She has a degree in architecture and works in the field as a technical architect. On 1 August 2004, Acinas was 26 years old, she had a femoral amputation her left leg following an accident in which an SUV rammed into her motorcycle. In 2011, she was one of several people featured in a documentary titled La Teoría del Espiralismo whose creation was sponsored by the Fundación Cultural Banest and which was promoted by the

Spanish Paralympic Committee Spanish Paralympic Committee ( es, Comité Paralímpico Español, CPE) is a Spanish non-profit sport organisation founded in 1995, that oversees five national disability sport federations. The organisation has a Secretary General and a President ...

Cycling

Acinas is a C2 classified cyclist, and cycles while having only one leg. Prior to her accident, Acinas occasionally went to the gym and trained with her brother, and also rode mountain bikes from time to time. A year and a half after her accident, she got on her bicycle and soon after, she went to

Velòdrom d'Horta Velòdrom d'Horta is a velodrome located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the track cycling venue for the 1992 Summer Olympics and was also the venue for the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 1984. The velodrome, designed by Esteve ...

where she met a number of people who encouraged her in the sport, including her eventual coach, Bernat Moreno. Acinas 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 ...

in both the track and road events. Typical training in the lead up to the London Paralympics depended on the season. During the winter, Acinas did two one-hour sessions a week of swimming in the morning. In the afternoon, she would train several hours either doing weights or training on the velodrome until about 9:00 pm. AS the games got closer, she did three hour morning sessions training on the road, and then would do three hour sessions in the afternoon on the track. In between training sessions, she would go into work. She qualified for the London Paralympics after earning a pair of gold medals at a World Cup event in Segovia. She competed at the

. She was one of four competitors at the 2012 Games from L'Hospitalet. In the road race, she finished fifth with a time of 1:39.51. She also competed in events held at the velodrome, finishing seventh in one of the chase events. From the Catalan region of Spain, she was a recipient of a 2012

Plan ADOP Plan ADOP ( es, Plan ADO Paralímpico) is designed to assist elite disabled sportspeople in Spain to prepare for the Paralympic Games. Created in 2005, it has supported sportspeople competing at the 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2008 Summer Paralympics, ...

scholarship. She lost her scholarship following the London Games, and had to cut back on training because she needed to work. Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada hosted the 2013 Para-cycling World Championships, and she competed in them.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acinas Poncelas, Raquel 1978 births Living people Paralympic cyclists for Spain Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Plan ADOP alumni