Tracey Ferguson is a Canadian

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player. She has won several gold medals including at three different Paralympic Games.

Early life

Tracey Ferguson was born on September 7, 1974, in

Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She was the last of six children and her initial ambition was to be a swimmer. She was left paralysed after an operation on her spine at the age of nine, but four years later she was being introduced to wheelchair basketball. Her mother was unsure about this sport as she thought her five foot tall daughter was too small to compete.

Career

In 1991, Ferguson got into a third place at

Stoke Mandeville Games Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

which were hosted in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England and in 1992 got into the first place at the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. From 1994 she got into a first place not once, but four times in four years. First, she got a first place at the

World championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

s at both Stoke Mandeville in 1994 supporting the captain Linda Kutrowski and that year's star

Chantal Benoit Chantal Benoit (born October 1, 1960) is a Canadian wheelchair basketball player. She is considered among the best female wheelchair basketball players of all time. Benoit played in the Canadian woman's wheelchair basketball team since 1984, and ...

. Her second World Championship was at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1998. In 1998 and 2000 she got first place again at the 1996 Paralympic Games and the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

as well. In the same years she was honoured to be chosen as a member of a world team. In 2004, Tracey got a third place at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and a year later she was awarded a silver medal at the Qualifications of Americas Tournament in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. Five years later she got a bronze medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and a year later she won a silver medal at the 2011 Parapan American Games. She also won a bronze medal in 2013 at the Osaka Cup which was held at

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. She was part of the team that won a gold medal at the

2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship Separate men's and women's Wheelchair Basketball World Championship tournaments were held in 2014. The women's tournament was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada between 20 and 28 June 2014. It was the largest women's ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in July 2014, and silver at the

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 ...

in August 2015.

Awards and honours

In 2012, Ferguson was inducted into the

Canadian Disability Hall of Fame The Canadian Disability Hall of Fame (formerly the Terry Fox Hall of Fame), recognizes "outstanding Canadians who have made extraordinary contributions to enriching the quality of life for people with physical disabilities". It is run by the Canadia ...

. In 2013, she was awarded with the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

which was given to her by Minister of State

Bal Gosal Baljit Singh Gosal ( Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਗੋਸਲ; born May 4, 1960) is a Canadian politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the electoral district of Bramalea—Gore—Malton from 2011 until 2015. He served ...

. She was also awarded with YMCA's Young Women of Distinction Award and the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award.

References

External links