Abderrahim Zhiou (, born September 26, 1985) is a

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. He is a six-time Paralympiclympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the Tunisian Federation of Sports for the Disabled team based at

Gabès Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...

Biography

Abderrahim born on 26 September 1985 in

. He started the sport in 1996 aged 11, but his

visual impairment Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

was an obstacle in front of his goal to be a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Two years later, he joined the Tunisian Federation of Sports for the Disabled team based at Gabès. The international debut of Abderrahim was in an international tournament in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, in 2002.

Achievements

He competed in the

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

in London, UK. There he won 2 gold medals in the men's 800 metres and 1500 metres – T12 event, a silver medal in the men's 5000 metres — T12 event, and a bronze medal in the men's Marathon — T12 event. In 2011, Zhiou won the World Champion title in 800, 1500, 5000 and 10000 meters T12 events. He competed in the

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 ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. There he won a gold medal in the men's 800 metres — T12 event and a silver medal in the men's 10,000 metres — T12, finished fourth in the men's Marathon — T12 event and finished sixth in the men's Pentathlon — P12 event.

IPC world records and memorable moment

Spain's Abel Avila seemed to have everything in control, taking the lead from the start and holding it until halfway into the second lap when Lazaro Raschid Aguilar of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

overtook and sped off. It looked like Aguilar had sealed the deal when suddenly 10 meters from the finish line,

's Abderrahim Zhiou stole up from behind and won in a world record-breaking 1:52.13. Aguilar settled for silver with 1:52.40, and

Odair Santos Odair Santos (born 17 May 1981) is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five s ...

of Brazil took the bronze by finishing 1:53.73. Avila finished fourth with 1:55.17. In the

in London, Abderrahim became the owner of the IPC world records in 1500 m T13 event with a timing of 3:48.31.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhiou, Abderrahim Paralympic athletes for Tunisia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Tunisia Paralympic silver medalists for Tunisia Living people 1985 births Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Tunisia Tunisian male long-distance runners Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century Tunisian sportsmen

Biography

Achievements

IPC world records and memorable moment

See also

References

External links