Shelley Gautier (born 31 October 1968) is a Canadian multi-medalist in

para-cycling Para-cycling (or Paracycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which in ...

. At the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships from 2010 to 2022, Gautier has won 16 golds as part of her 19 medals. At the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

, Gautier won a silver at the mixed road time trial event held at the

2011 Parapan American Games The 4th Parapan American Games took place from November 12 to 20 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Games are an international multi-sport event for athletes with a physical disability. The Games were held 20 days after the 2011 Pan American Games beg ...

and

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 ...

. As a Paralympic competitor, Gautier won a bronze 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 ...

in the women's time trial event. Apart from para-cycling, Gautier competed in disabled sailing. Gautier was inducted into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame in 2003 and nominated for the

Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual disabled athletes from the world of Paralympic sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven cons ...

in 2015.

Early life and education

Gautier was born on 31 October 1968 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She went to the University of Western Ontario for an

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

in physical education before graduating from the University of Toronto with a physical therapy degree.

Career

Gautier began her sports career while in university as a college athlete. After a head injury and coma in 2001, Gautier was diagnosed with hemiparesis on the right side of her body. After her injury, Gautier started competing in disabled sailing before moving on towards para-cycling. During her disabled sailing career, Gautier won the Silver Fleet event at the 2006 Mobility Cup and was the president of the Disabled Sailing Association of Ontario from 2006 to 2007. In para-cycling, Gautier won repeat golds in the time trial and road race events at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships from 2010 to 2015. Gautier continued to win gold at the road race and time trial events at the

2017 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2017 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place on the roads of Pietermaritzburg in South Africa from 31 August to 3 September 201 ...

and

2018 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the shor ...

. During the

2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place in Emmen in The Netherlands from 11 to 15 September 2019. Medalists Medal ta ...

, Gautier won silver in the road race and bronze in the time trial. At the

2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The Championships took place in Cascais in Portugal from 9 to 13 June 2021. Medalists Medal table Particip ...

, Gautier won gold in the road race and time trial events. For the

2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships The 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships is the World Championships for road cycling for athletes with a physical disability. The championships took place in Baie-Comeau in Canada from 11 to 14 August 2022. Medalists Men's events ...

, Gautier won bronze in the time trial and was last in the road race. Outside of UCI, Gautier won a silver at the

and

in the mixed time trial events. After not medalling 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 ...

, Gautier received a bronze medal in the women's time trial event at the

. Gautier did not win a medal at her events during the

2020 Summer 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 Paralym ...

. Apart from competitions, the Shelley Gautier Para-Sport Foundation was created by Gautier in the mid-2010s.

Awards and honours

In 2003, Gautier was inducted into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame as a member of the

A. N. Myer Secondary School A. N. Myer Secondary School is a public high school located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It is located on O'Neil Street, and is part of the District School Board of Niagara. As of the 2019-2020 school year, 1213 students were enrolled A. N. ...

's soccer team. Gautier was nominated for the

in 2015 and lost to

Tatyana McFadden Tatyana McFadden (russian: Татьяна Макфадден; born April 21, 1989) is an American Paralympic athlete of Russian descent competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Game ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gautier, Shelley 1968 births Canadian female cyclists Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Living people Paralympic cyclists for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Sportspeople from Niagara Falls, Ontario Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women