Wheelchair basketball was in the spotlight at the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s (CPC) 2013 Hall of Fame and Sport Awards Ceremony on May 10 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Hot on the heels of its London 2012 gold medal performance, the Canadian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team took home honours for Best Team Performance, while star player Patrick Anderson was named Best Male Athlete, and head coach Jerry Tonello, of Toronto, who led the team to spotless 8-0 record, received the Tim Frick Paralympic Coach Excellence Award; on the same night that former Women’s National Team head coach Tim Frick and three-time Paralympic gold medallist Jennifer Krempien were inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Committee Hall of Fame.
Anderson, a Fergus native, is a three-time Paralympic gold medalist and is widely considered the greatest wheelchair basketball athlete of all time.
Most recently, at the London 2012 Paralympic Games he led the team to its third gold medal in the last four Paralympics (a run of success that also includes silver in Beijing in 2008).
He posted career-best numbers in London and finished tops in tournament scoring, averaging 25 points per game, and first in total rebounds with 88.
The Canadian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team went undefeated at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
It is the latest accomplishment in a sport dynasty that has placed the team on the podium at four consecutive Paralympics, including gold medals in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and silver in Beijing 2008.
The team has also brought home hardware from five of the last six World Championships, including consecutive bronze medals in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. The team captured gold at the World Championships in 2006 and a host of other competitions throughout the last decade and a half.
“The entire wheelchair basketball community is extremely proud of the accomplishments being celebrated,” said Wheelchair Basketball Canada executive director Wendy Gittens.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to recognize the hard work and dedication of so many outstanding athletes and coaches within wheelchair basketball, and the greater Canadian Paralympic Movement. We applaud the remarkable successes of all of the award winners, nominees, and hall of fame inductees.”
For more information visit www.wheelchairbasketball.ca.
