Michelle Stilwell (''nee'' Bauknecht; born July 4, 1974) is a Canadian wheelchair racer and politician. She is the only female Paralympic athlete to win gold medals in two separate summer sport events. Stilwell was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria. Members are elected from provincial ...

as a

BC Liberal The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia general ...

candidate for

Parksville-Qualicum Parksville-Qualicum is the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was first contested in the 1991 election. Following redistribution, the area became part of the Nanaimo-Parksville and Albern ...

in the 2013 provincial election. She represented Canada at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

, and

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

Early life and education

Stilwell was born on July 4, 1974, in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,60 ...

, Canada. While attending

River East Collegiate River East Collegiate is a public high school located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that belongs to the River East Transcona School Division. River East has a school population of approximately 1,250 students. The school colours are blue and white and ...

, she broke her neck from a fall and became an incomplete quadriplegic. After the accident, she competed in

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

, through which she met her husband Mark at the 1996 National Championships in Montreal. Stilwell eventually moved to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

where she completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

in 1999.

Paralympic career

Michelle Stilwell - 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships

Stilwell stayed in Calgary from 1997 until 2000 to train for the

Canada women's national wheelchair basketball team The Canada women's national wheelchair basketball team is one of Canada's most successful national sporting teams. It is the only national women's wheelchair basketball team to have won three consecutive gold medals at the Paralympic Games in 199 ...

. She competed as a reserve for Team Canada at the

2000 Paralympic Games The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

, where her team won a gold medal. Afterwards, Stilwell, her husband Mark, and their newborn son moved to Vancouver Island. However, Stilwell was forced to forgo wheelchair basketball after undergoing surgery for a herniated brain stem. Although was unable to compete at a national level, Stilwell continued to play basketball locally where she was spotted by Coach Peter Lawless, who convinced her to try for wheelchair racing. Stilwell qualified for the 2008 Paralympic Games where she won two gold medals in the woman's T52 200m and 100m events. This was followed by three gold medals (with World Championship records) and one silver at the 2011 World Championships in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. At the

London 2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

, Stilwell defended her Paralympic gold medal in the women's

200m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

in 33.80 seconds, shattering her Games record by over two seconds. Four days later, Stilwell captured a silver medal in the 100m after mishap caused her to fall behind Marieke Vervoort. The following year, she competed in the

2013 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, ...

and set a new world record in the women's T52 class 800 metres. In 2016, her last Paralympic Games, Stilwell earned a gold medal while also setting a Paralympics record during the T52 wheelchair 400 metres race, with a time of one minute and 5.42 seconds. The following year, Stilwell announced her retirement from competitive sports and was inducted into the

BC Sports Hall of Fame The BC Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in BC Place Stadium, at Gate A, the main entrance to the stadium, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It collects, preserves, studies and interprets materials that relate to British Columbia's spo ...

. Stilwell was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

Political career

In 2013, Stilwell campaigned to become the

candidate for

in the 2013 provincial election. She was elected to the

and served as Caucus Chair and Parliamentary Secretary for Healthy Living and Seniors for two years before being sworn in as Minister for Social Development and Social Innovation. Stillwell was re-elected in 2017, but lost her seat in the 2020 election.

Electoral record

References

External links