Alison Levine (born May 11, 1990) is a Canadian

boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes w ...

competitor.

Early life and education

Levine grew up in

Côte Saint-Luc Côte Saint-Luc () is a city on the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is a mostly residential suburb of Montreal, within which it forms an enclave. The city is primarily English-speaking, with a large Jewish community. Geography Côte S ...

, Quebec. She attended JPPS Elementary School and Bialik High School. She was diagnosed with idiopathic muscular dystrophy as a teenager. She graduated from

Vanier College Vanier College () is an Quebec English, English-language public College (Quebec), college located in the Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as the second English-language public coll ...

's Special Care Counselling program in 2013.

Career

Levine threw boccia for the first time in December 2012. Her first medal was won in pairs with Marco Dispaltro at the 2013 national championship in Montreal. In 2014, she won a bronze medal in pairs at the Masters in Portugal. She won an individual silver medal at the European World Open in Poland in 2015, where she also won silver in the pairs competition. That same year, she won pairs silver at the Parapan American Games in Toronto. Going into her Paralympic debut in 2016, Levine was ranked 15th in the world in individual mixed BC4 boccia. She placed fifth at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

in individuals BC4 boccia and sixth in pairs BC4, with Dispaltro and Iulian Ciobanu. She won her first gold medal at a Boccia World Open event at the Montreal World Open in 2019. In 2019, she was ranked number one in the world by the

Boccia International Sports Federation The Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed) is the international governing body for the sport of boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the L ...

in the BC4 division, the first woman to be ranked first in the world in her disability class in the then mixed-sex sport. She entered the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

as the top ranked player in the world in the BC4 class, as well as being the top ranked female in the world. Levine competed in the boccia mixed BC4 individual event at the

. She did not qualify for the quarter-finals after the group play stage. Levine and Ciobanu did not advance to the semi-finals in pairs BC4 at the Paralympics. In 2022, Levine won gold she won at the São Paulo Americas Regional Championships, silver at the Rio de Janeiro World Cup, and Povoa de Varzim World Cup. She placed fourth in singles BC4 and won bronze with Ciobanu in BC4 pairs at the Rio de Janeiro 2022 World Boccia Championships. At the

2023 Parapan American Games The 2023 Parapan American Games, officially the VII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Santiago 2023 Parapan-Am Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities. It celebrated the tradition of the Parapan Am ...

, Levine won gold medals in BC4 pairs with Ciobanu and BC4 singles. She was chosen as Canada's

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

for the Games' closing ceremony. Levine is the namesake of the Alison pant, a type of

pants Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants (American English, American, Canadian English, Canadian and Australian English) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separatel ...

Lululemon Athletica Lululemon, commonly styled as lululemon ( ; all lowercase), is a Canadian-American multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and incorporated in Delaware, United States, as Lululemon Athletica Inc. ...

for use by the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams in 2024. At the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

, she made it to the women’s individual BC4 quarterfinals, but was eliminated after losing to

Leidy Chica Leidy Chica (born 8 June 1990) is a Colombian boccia player. She competed at the 2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paraly ...

, the world number one ranked women’s BC4 boccia athlete. In mixed pairs BC4, Ciobanu and Levine placed fourth, losing to Thailand in the bronze medal match.

References

External links