Daniel Wesley (athlete)

Daniel Wesley
Personal information
Birth nameDaniel Wesley
Born (1960-03-29) 29 March 1960 (age 64)
Canada
Sport
Country Canada
SportAlpine skiing, wheelchair racing, track and field
Event(s)Downhill
Slalom
Giant slalom
Super combined
Super G
100 meter
500 meter
800 meter

Daniel Wesley (aka Daniel Westley) is a Canadian athlete who won 12 medals while competing in the Paralympic Games.[1]

Early life

Wesley grew up in New Westminster, British Columbia and lost both his legs in 1973 when he fell under a moving train.[2]

Career

While recovering from his accident, Wesley met Rick Hansen who inspired him to try wheelchair athletics. He began wheelchair racing in 1978 and track and field competitions in 1979[2] and earned a place on the team for the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea.[1] He competed in both the winter and summer games in several sports including "wheelchair racing and skiing" [1] and won two gold and two silver medals.[2]

After finishing fourth in the 1991 London Marathon men's wheelchair race, Wesley won the 1992 race and set a new course record.[3] He competed in the 1992 Summer Paralympics events in Barcelona and again at the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer and at the 1998 Winter Paralympics in Nagano. At the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah he won gold and silver medals. In 2003 he received a 3rd place overall ranking in the World Cup.[2] As of 2012, Wesley had won 12 Paralympic medals, four of them gold, while competing in wheelchair sports such as racing and skiing at "five Paralympic Games."[1]

Wesley works as a sales person for a "home medical equipment company."[1] In 2008, Wesley became part of the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.[4]

Personal

Wesley lives in New Westminster, Canada. He began skiing at age 25 and is a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hill, Tom (4 April 2012) Meditation Finding Balance Paralympian Vancouver Sun, Retrieved 5 April 2012
  2. ^ a b c d e "Daniel Wesley". Paralympic Heroes. Canadian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  3. ^ "London Marathon History" (PDF). Flora London Marathon. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  4. ^ "Previous Hall of Fame Inductees". The Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Person. Retrieved 19 October 2022.