Chantal Petitclerc

As an athlete, Chantal Petitclerc has many wins to her credit but there was one that was history in the making. In July 2002, she won the gold medal in the 800m in a time of 1 minute 52.92 seconds at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. It was the first wheelchair event to be fully integrated into the program of a major international non-disabled competition. In winning an “official” gold medal, Chantal became the first disabled athlete in the history of sports to register a result for her country’s team in a non-disabled competition. She did it again in Melbourne, Australia two years later, where she was the flag bearer for the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games.

After an impressive 5 gold medals in Athens in 2004, Chantal did it again.

Back from the Beijing Paralympic games with 5 gold medals, 2 new world records and 1 new Paralympic record, Chantal Petitclerc became one of the world’s most decorated track athlete, with a total of 21 Paralympic medals, including 14 gold medals. The only Canadian to medal at the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games, Chantal is currently the world record holder for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m.

Chantal was born on December 15, 1969 in Saint-Marc-des-Carrieres in Quebec. At the age of thirteen, she lost the use of both legs in an accident. Gaston Jacques, a high school physical education teacher, was to have a decisive influence on her life when he convinced her to try swimming to develop her physical strength and stamina. It was Chantal’s first contact with sports and training.

When she was eighteen, Pierre Pomerleau, a trainer at University Laval in Quebec City, introduced her to wheelchair sports. Using a homemade wheelchair, she took part in her first race and came in dead last, well behind the other competitors. But never mind that, she had just fallen in love with wheelchair racing, and a long and fruitful career had begun!

While Chantal was developing her skills as a wheelchair athlete, she pursued her studies, first in social sciences at the CEGEP de Sainte-Foy and then in history at the University of Alberta, where she registered in order to be able to train with Peter Eriksson, who remains her coach to this day.

A member of the national team since 1988, Chantal competed in the Paralympic Games for the first time in Barcelona in 1992, returning with two bronze medals, the start of an impressive collection that now includes an Olympic medal, 21 Paralympic medals, 14 of them gold.