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With the 2020 Olympics over, the Paralympic Games are about to begin.
This year Oakville will be represented by two great athletes. The first being Wheelchair racer Austin Smeenk and the second being basketball player Melanie Hawtin.
Austin Smeenk was born with spastic paraplegia which is a hereditary disease the causes stiffness in the lower limbs.
Austin is able to walk short distances, ride bicycles in order to go farther distances and stand up on a snowboard.
Austin has played many other sports such as sailing and sledge hockey.
He is studying electromechanical engineering technology and in 2014 was given the Outstanding Male Track Events Performance of the Year Award by Athletics Ontario.
Smeenk says “having a disability shouldn’t deny anyone from playing sports or doing chores.” He says “there just needs to be an openness to trying and doing things differently.”
Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee
RIO DE JANEIRO - 11/9/2016: Austin Smeenk competes in the Men's 100m - T34 Heat at the Olympic Stadium during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Smeenk is an extremely accomplished Wheelchair racer that will be competing in his second Paralympic Games.
Smeenk has competed in many international races in the last decade, his first race was in the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) World Championships in 2013. Smeenk finished eighth in the 800m race.
In the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Smeenk competed in two separate events. One was the 800m wheelchair race and the other being the 100m wheelchair race.
Austin would finish eighth in the 800m race and sixth in the 100m race.
Austin would continue to get better after his appearance in Rio.
He would make a major improvement in 2018 at the Swiss Grand Prix where he competed in the 100m and 200m races where he finished second in the 100m and third in the 200m.
Austin will be looking to build off of that momentum with a great performance in this year’s paralympic games.
The second Oakville athlete competing is wheelchair basketball player Melanie Hawtin.
Though she is a basketball player, Melanie originally intended to be a wheelchair racer.
As a child, Hawtin started racing and became a very decorated athlete in the sport. She had dreams of representing Canada at the Paralympics but that dream was put on hold due to surgery.
Dan Galbraith/Canadian Paralympic Committee
TORONTO, ON, AUGUST 8, 2015. Wheelchair Basketball - CAN78-18 GUA in women's play - Meline Hawtin
During her recovery, she started to play basketball for the Burlington Vipers which started her path to the Paralympics where she represented Canada in Rio in 2016 where the team finished in 5th place.
Hawtin and the Women’s national team have had many successes including winning Gold in the 2014 World Championships and winning Silver in the 2015 Pan am games.
