By: Hailey Miller, Staff Writer
39 Paralympians with ties to BC have just returned home from a successful trip to the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Riding off the high of the most prestigious world stage in sport — and hungry for competition — 11 of these BC-based Paralympians scooped up medals. Altogether, 126 paralympic athletes from the Canadian national team were named to the Paris 2024 games. Team Canada returned home with 29 medals — 10 gold, nine silver, and 10 bronze — tied with Rio 2016 as the most hardware won by Canadian Paralympians at any summer Paralympics to date.
The heated competition buzzed with records made in para swimming, athletics, cycling, wheelchair basketball, boccia, and more. Canadian Paralympians competed in 18 different sports across countless events in the City of Love . . . for sport. Among those, BC-based athletes made up 31% of the team roster and 45% of the national team winnings, respectively.
The Paralympics are held alongside the Olympics for athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as visual impairments. In order to accommodate various levels of ability, different classifications are implemented for each sport to allow for fair competition. Each athlete is evaluated per classification type for each sport and event they compete in.
This year’s Paralympics marked the first time that these Canadian athletes were paid for their podium placements — something that has typically only been done for the Olympics. Paralympians are competitive athletes too, and deserve to be paid for their podium placings and hard work as they are just as worthy as any competitive athlete in sport.
Greg Stewart from Kamloops, who competes in para athletics, launched his way to a gold medal in shot put at the 2024 games. He stood on top of the podium in his second visit to the Paralympics, following a personal best silver at the Para Athletics World Championships this past May. He’s also previously competed internationally in sitting volleyball.
Danielle Ellis from White Rock, captain of the Canadian para sitting volleyball team, served her way to a bronze medal alongside her teammates. Paris was Ellis’ third Paralympic Games, and her first time placing on the podium to take hardware home. She’s been a member of the national team since 2009.
Para swimmer Nicholas Bennett, from Parksville, made waves in the pool for a total of three medals — two gold and one silver — alongside breaking three world records in the 100m breaststroke, 200 IM (individual medley), and 200m freestyle events. This was his second Paralympic appearance.
From West Vancouver, para cyclist Nathan Clement pedalled his way to silver on his tricycle. Paris was his second Paralympic games, following his debut at Rio in 2016 (when he was a para swimmer at the time) and a hiatus from Tokyo. He has a plethora of world champion winnings and pan-American titles under his belt for both para cycling and para swimming. Clement won multiple bronze medals at world championships throughout 2023 and 2024 before upgrading his hardware in Paris.
Congratulations to all the athletes for one of the most successful Paralympic Games in Canadian history to date. May you enjoy your well-deserved moments of celebration and rejuvenation before hitting the ground running — or rolling, swimming, walking, serving, and cycling — once again for the next competitions on the world stage. Until then, we’ll be cheering you on as you prepare for Los Angeles 2028.
