Ottawa was represented by eight athletes at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, plus several more from the larger national capital region. Our coverage of their journeys is posted here on our Ottawa at the Paralympics central webpage.
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Ottawa at the Paralympics Daily Coverage
You can read through our daily coverage, with recaps, previews & schedules for our Ottawa Paralympians below:
Trinity Lowthian resumes training, after successful Paralympics, hospital stay
Reflection time everyone. What was the happiest moment in your life? If you ask that question to rising international wheelchair fencer Trinity Lowthian, the answer comes quick and uncluttered. That moment would be her debut at the 2024 Paralympic Summer Games in Paris. “It was the happiest I had ever been and at the same time it was so emotional,” explained Lowthian.. READ MORE…
Paralympic medallist Brianna Hennessy attacks sport & life full-tilt, a decade after accident
Brianna Hennessy is coming up to a 10-year life milestone like no other. On Nov. 11, 2014, she woke up in hospital to learn that the highest vertebra in her neck was broken, one of the main arteries to her brain was severed, and that she was tetraplegic. The past provincial/national champion in hockey, rugby, ball hockey and boxing had barely survived being struck by a taxicab the day before. READ MORE…
Injured Paralympic sprinter Bianca Borgella emerging from post-Games blues
There were moments before, during and after the Paralympic Games that felt nothing like a game at all for Bianca Borgella. The stress leading up to the start of the 100-metre final at her first Paralympics was unlike any other the 21-year-old Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club athlete had ever experienced in her career. “Definitely one of the scariest feelings of my life,” Borgella recounted. READ MORE…
Lowthian records best Canadian Paralympic wheelchair fencing finish, unsure of Games return
Trinity Lowthian turned many heads with her history-making debut on the Paralympic stage, but the 22-year-old wheelchair fencer from Stittsville isn’t certain if she’ll be back for a future Games. “I’m really proud of myself and happy for how it went,” Lowthian said by phone from Paris. “My only goal, really, was to not have any regrets, and I don’t have any regrets.” READ MORE…
OATP Final Day: Brianna Hennessy had to choose to live, carries Canadian flag at Closing
On Nov. 11, 2014, Brianna Hennessy was crossing the street in Toronto while at a work conference when she was struck by a taxicab and knocked unconscious. When she woke up, she learned that the highest vertebra in her neck was broken, one of the main arteries to her brain was severed, and that she was tetraplegic. “I had to choose to survive,” Hennessy recounted. READ MORE…
OATP Day 10: Paralympic silver medallist Brianna Hennessy chosen as Closing flag bearer
Brianna Hennessy’s remarkable rise into a world-class athlete culminated in a silver medal today at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris as she paddled confidently to the podium in the women’s va’a canoe 200 metres. The 39-year-old’s journey hasn’t been so much about winning medals, but there’s no doubt that her new silver prize shines awfully nicely. READ MORE…
OATP Day 9: Paralympic rookie Trinity Lowthian posts Canada’s best wheelchair fencing result
Trinity Lowthian took down the world’s #2 and #3-ranked women’s epée category B wheelchair fencers today in Paris before a single-touch overtime loss ended her quest for an improbable podium performance at the 2024 Paralympic Games. Just two years into her fencing career, the 22-year-old wrote a piece of Canadian history in the process by finishing fifth. READ MORE…
OATP Day 8: Keegan Gaunt goes for it in 400 m finale of first Paralympics
Keegan Gaunt knew she’d need an extraordinary performance to advance past the heats of the T13 women’s 400 metres today at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and that’s what the 24-year-old Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club product went for. More of a middle-distance runner, Gaunt pressed for a career best in the one-lap sprint event. READ MORE…
OATP Day 7: Canadian goalball team bids adieu to 4-time Paralympian Whitney Bogart
The Canadian women’s goalball team’s last game of the 2024 Paralympics started and finished with signature blocks by Ottawa’s Whitney Bogart, as the defensive heart of Team Canada went out with a win in the final match of her career this morning in Paris. The 38-year-old finished with a game-high 41 blocks as she and Team Canada celebrated a 1-0 shutout victory over Japan. READ MORE…
OATP Day 6: Injury, defeat & elimination in rough day for Ottawa’s Paralympians
The Canadian women’s goalball team met its match today in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, and her name was Lihi Ben David. Israel’s Opening Ceremonies flag bearer rocked Canada for four goals – double the total their opponents scored combined in three preliminary round games – as three Ottawa players were eliminated from medal contention. READ MORE…
OATP Day 5: Wheelchair rugby ends with Canada in 6th, new sports beginning
Patrice Dagenais and the Canadian wheelchair rugby team fell to France in a closely-fought match for fifth place, losing 53-50 to the Paralympic hosts to finish in sixth place. Dagenais and co-captain Trevor Hirschfield led the Canadians out of the tunnel to start the match in front of yet another roaring crowd. Canada came into the match off a win over Denmark. READ MORE…
OATP Day 4: Canada pushes strongly ahead into goalball playoffs
For the second game in a row, Canada’s goalball match was all about defence. The Canadians tied South Korea 0-0 to close out the preliminary rounds and secure the second position in their group. Canada lost their previous match to Japan in a close 2-1 outing that was decided by a goal in the final minutes of play, on the heels of a 10-0 opening win over France. READ MORE…
OATP Day 3: Dagenais & Canada fight, but lose shot at wheelchair rugby medal
Patrice Dagenais and the Canadian wheelchair rugby team mounted a solid comeback effort but couldn’t climb back high enough in a 50-46 defeat to unbeaten Japan, which ended their medal hopes at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Canada needed to win the match by at least three points against the team Dagenais called the favourite to win the tournament. READ MORE…
OATP Day 2: Canada takes down Germany to keep alive wheelchair rugby playoff hopes
After a damaging opening-day defeat to USA, Patrice Dagenais and the Canadian wheelchair rugby team kept their podium chances alive with a 54-47 victory over Germany today at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The Canadians now carry a 1-1 record and have an outside shot at advancing to the semi-finals, with a win in their next match needed. READ MORE…
Ottawa at the Paralympics Day 1: Goalball trio leads Canada to mercy-rule win over host France
The Paris Paralympics are off to a roaring start for the Canadian women’s goalball team. Led by Ottawans Whitney Bogart, Emma Reinke and Amy Burk, Canada routed France 10-0 in their 2024 Games debut. The Canadians played their first game of the preliminary round in front of a crowd that had got very loud and excited during stoppages in play. READ MORE…
Ottawa at the Paralympics: Meet your 8 local Paralympians competing in Paris!
And we’re back! After a quick recharge following our Ottawa at the Olympics coverage, we are eagerly looking forward to keeping tabs on eight local Paralympians over the course of the next 12 days. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games got underway today with the outdoor Opening Ceremonies, though most of ‘Team Ottawa’ was not there. READ MORE…
Ottawa Paralympians’ Schedules
View our full calendar of Ottawa Paralympians’ event schedules here.
You can also view individual athlete schedules via the links below. You can then click on the “subscribe to calendar” menu at the bottom of the athlete’s schedule page to add/export their events to your digital calendar.
Athlete Profile Series
In the lead-up to their competitions, we shared stories on our local Paralympians’ journeys to the Paris 2024 Summer Games:
A storm of motivation drives Brianna Hennessy into her second Paralympic Games
From a life-altering injury, to rediscovering her love of sport, to finding a new sport during the pandemic, to losing her mom, Brianna Hennessy’s path to the Paris Paralympics has been exceptionally difficult, but the 39-year-old has found many sources of inspiration. READ MORE…
Trinity Lowthian reaches Paralympic stage 2 years into wheelchair fencing career
Trinity Lowthian has risen to the top of her craft, and quickly. The 22-year-old wheelchair fencer from Stittsville is entering her first Paralympic Games with a slew of success already in her newfound sport, which she joined just two years ago with Ottawa Fencing. READ MORE…
After watching her mom compete at Paralympics, roles to be reversed for Keegan Gaunt
With a passion for competitive sport learned from her Paralympian parents, and having narrowly missed out on her first try at reaching the global Games, Keegan Gaunt is fully appreciative of the chance to make her Paralympic debut at the Paris 2024 Summer Games. READ MORE…
Team Canada goalball women move from elementary school gym to Paralympic stage
There was jumping, hugging, smiling, cheering, screaming and sobbing. The Canadian women’s goalball team had just beaten arch-rival USA in the championship game of the 2023 Parapan Am Games to claim the Americas’ final Paris 2024 Paralympics qualifying position. READ MORE…
Whitney Bogart feels love, resentment from teammates entering her final Paralympics
Whitney Bogart is the Canadian women’s goalball team’s punching bag. That’s true whether she’s absorbing chirps from teammates at practice, or competing on the court. Bogart, one of three on Team Canada from Ottawa, doesn’t take a lot of throws, but she sure takes a lot of bumps. READ MORE…
Fifth Paralympics anything but old to Canadian goalball team captain Amy Burk
Amy Burk will be among rare company at the Paris Paralympics. When the 34-year-old plays her first women’s goalball match against host France on Aug. 29, she’ll become one of just nine members of the 2024 Canadian Paralympic team to have competed in 5+ Paralympics. READ MORE…
Goalball sharpshooter Emma Reinke ready for big moments in her second Paralympics
Emma Reinke’s first Paralympic Games experiences were not in ideal circumstances. Uncertainty ruled, there were training and traveling restrictions, and plenty more plaguing the Canadian women’s goalball team en route to a ninth-place finish three years ago. READ MORE…
Paralympic rookie Bianca Borgella has secret weapon to fight hamstring injury
About the last place in the world Bianca Borgella wanted to visit a month before her Paralympic debut was an MRI machine. The Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club sprinter still made the other more exciting stops she’d planned to hit – Toronto, Barcelona and Paris of course. READ MORE…
Patrice Dagenais is eager to relive his Paralympic podium experience from 12 years ago
Wheelchair rugby player Patrice Dagenais was a rookie when he won a silver medal at his debut Paralympics in 2012. Now he’s a veteran for Team Canada, and heading into his fourth Games in Paris, he has one clear goal in mind: get Canada back on the podium. READ MORE…
Capital Canadian Paralympic team connections abound, including many coaches & staff
On top of the eight local athletes the Ottawa Sports Pages is following in our Ottawa at the Paralympics coverage, there are also a number of Canadian Paralympic team members from the larger national capital region, and several more who have past Ottawa associations. READ MORE…