The Canadian Paralympic Committee has announced the athletes and coaches who will make up Team Canada at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, to be held Sept. 7 to 18. Canada will bring a total of 162 athletes to compete in 19 sports, including the two new Paralympic sports of para-triathlon and para-canoe.
Team Canada is led by Chef de Mission Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal, Que. and Assistant Chef de Mission Norm O’Reilly, originally of Lindsay, Ont. “Congratulations to this entire group of dedicated, world-class athletes and coaches who have worked relentlessly to earn the honor of representing Canada in Rio,” said Petitclerc. “I know that our Canadian contingent is prepared, focused and ready to take on the challenge of Team Canada’s performance goal of placing in the top 16 nations in the total medal count.”
Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC will be joining Team Canada, representing Canada in both road and track cycling. New to track cycling, Chernove has taken the para-cycling world by storm this year with double gold at the world track championships in March and two victories at the World Cup road event in Belgium in May, just months after earning two track para-cycling medals in his Canadian track championships debut.
Chernove has had a passion for cycling his whole life. When he was diagnosed in 2009 with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease which affects his lower legs, he decided to take up competitive cycling to see how his body would respond to intense physical efforts. The degenerative but non-life threatening disease causes symptoms similar to muscular dystrophy. Chernove believes his lifelong passion for sport and exercise has helped to slow the symptoms of CMT.
The complete list of Team Canada athletes and coaches is available to view and download at: paralympic.ca/team-canada-rio-2016.
BROADCAST COVERAGE: The Canadian Paralympic Committee Media Consortium will bring unprecedented broadcast and digital coverage of the Paralympic Games. The broadcast schedule will be posted shortly at: paralympic.ca/watch-team-canada.
