The 2024 Paralympics Games in Paris officially kick off today! With more than 4,400 athletes competing in 549 medal events and 22 sports, 10 athletes from Toronto are expected to shine. Here’s who (and what) you can expect:
Sheriauna Haase
Sport: Para Athletics
The 17-year-old will make her Paralympic Games debut this year in Paris! Watch out for her in the Para athletics women’s T47 100-metre and 200-metre track events at the finals this Friday. Haase, who was born missing part of her left arm, made her international debut at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, placing fifth in the women’s 100-metre T47 event (and setting a Canadian record with a time of 12.42 seconds)! The Toronto-born athlete has followed her dreams across multiple fields, including athletics, dancing and even acting (she’s landed roles in popular TV shows such as Circuit Breakers and The Next Step).
Aly Van Wyck-Smart
Sport: Para Swimming
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The 21-year-old swimming phenomenon was nominated to the Paris Games team in May following her incredible performance at the Paralympic team trials in Toronto. Her career highlights include competing at the 2020 Paralympic Games, in the 2019, 2022 and 2023 IPC World Championships, and being named Swimming Canada’s Breakout Para Swimmer in 2019! In Paris, she’ll participate in the 100-metre and 50-metre freestyle events on Aug. 29 and Sept. 7.
Puisand Lai
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball (Women’s Tournament)
The 24-year-old was born in Hawaii and resides in Toronto. At age six, she was diagnosed with transverse myelitis (a neurological condition where the spinal cord is inflamed).  Wheelchair basketball was just one of many sports that Lai’s parents signed her up for in 2013. She was a bit reluctant to go at first, but soon fell in love with the sport. Lai went on to compete in the 2020 Paralympic Games, the 2019 and 2023 Parapan American Games where she received gold and silver, respectively, the Canada Winter Games in 2019 (where she earned a silver medal for Ontario), and the 2018 and 2023 World Championships.
In Paris, she’ll be playing with the Canada women’s team, which qualified due to their top four results at the 2024 IWBF Women’s Repechage in Osaka, Japan.
Marisa Papaconstantinou
Sport: Para Athletics
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The 23-year-old athlete (who’s also the first Canadian female para-athlete to be sponsored by Nike) made her Paralympic Games debut at age 16 in Rio before winning bronze medal performances in the women’s T64 100-metre at the 2023 Para Athletics World Championships and 2020 Paralympic Games. Papaconstantinou, who was born without her right foot, has always participated in sports. Along with her para-athletics career, she enjoys soccer and basketball. She took up para athletics at age 11 at the Phoenix Track Club in Scarborough. Look out for her in the women’s 200-metre T64 final on Sept. 3.
Jody Schloss
Sport: Para Equestrian
Jody Schloss, a 51-year-old equestrian, is expected to excel in Paris this year! The certified equine specialist previously competed in the 2012 and 2021 Paralympic Games as well as the 2018 and 2022 World Equestrian Games. She began riding when she was 11 years old. In 1996, she was in a car accident and spent several months in a coma. She began riding therapeutically two years later, but when she first started riding again, she couldn’t sit up, so she had two side-walkers and three braces around her trunk for support. Slowly, she improved and moved into the horsemanship program. In Paris, you can cheer for her at the individual championship and freestyle Grade I equestrian events.
Jesse Zesseu
Sport: Para Athletics
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Zesseu was born in Cameroon but moved to Canada when he was five. He was born with cerebral palsy after having a stroke at birth and has 75 per cent function on his right side compared to his left side. This will be the 25-year-old’s Paralympic Games debut! His career highlights include the 2023 Parapan American Games and the 2023 World Championships. Watch out for Zesseu in the men’s discus throw F37 event on Sept. 6.
Lee Melymick
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball (Men’s Tournament)
Melymick was born and raised in Toronto, and this will be his second Paralympic Games (he competed at his first Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020, where Canada placed eighth). The 29-year-old also competed in the 2019 and 2023 Parapan American Games, the 2019 Wheelchair Basketball Games (where he was named Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year), the Canada Winter Games (Ontario won silver), and the 2018 and 2023 World Championships.
In Paris, he’ll be playing with the Canada men’s team, alongside fellow Toronto resident Blaise Mutware. The team qualified due to their top four results at the 2024 IWBF Men’s Repechage in Antibes, France.
Blaise Mutware
Sport: Â Wheelchair Basketball
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The 30-year-old phenom was born in Rwanda but moved to Toronto at 13, where he now resides. Paris will mark his second Paralympic Games (he debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, where Canada placed eighth).  Mutware started playing stand-up basketball before a serious injury led him to wheelchair basketball. In 2015, he started playing with the Variety Village Rebels in Toronto (an integrated wheelchair basketball team). That same year, he was invited to train with the National Academy Program at Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s National Training Centre. In 2019, Mutware was named to the Senior Men’s National Team — and the rest is history!
In Paris, he’ll be playing with the Canada men’s team, alongside fellow Toronto resident Lee Melymick.
Rio Kanda Kovac
Sport: Wheelchair Rugby
At age 21, Kovac (who was born in British Columbia but now resides in Toronto) is one of the youngest members of Team Canada’s wheelchair rugby team at the Paralympic Games. It also marks the athlete’s Paralympic Games debut)! Kovac was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, which causes motor and sensory neuropathy.  In 2018, Kovac was invited to train with Team Canada in Japan and has been with the team for the past three years.
Travis Murao
Sport: Wheelchair Rugby
The 41-year-old will play with fellow wheelchair rugby player Rio Kanda Kovac at the 2024 Paralympic Games this year, and expectations are high. Murao’s career highlights include the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games (his team won silver in 2012 and bronze in 2008), as well as the 2015, 2019 and 2023 Parapan American Games.  Murao, who was born in New Westminster, B.C., but resides in Toronto, was introduced to wheelchair rugby by Duncan Campbell, one of the inventors of the sport.
The games will continue until Sept. 8, and we’ll be posting updates along the way! Click here to find out more about the Canadian Paralympic athletes.
