Amy Alsop (born June 30, 1978) is a Canadian Paralympian from

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. She is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist for

goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a visual impairment, vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball with bells embedded inside it into the opponents' goal. The ball is throw ...

Early life

Alsop was born with only 10 per cent of her vision and used

Canadian National Institute for the Blind The CNIB Foundation () is a Canadian charitable organization and volunteer agency dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 as th ...

services to gain independence. While learning to swim, Alsop met the coach of the local goalball team who encouraged her to join the sport.

Career

Alsop joined the Canadian National goalball team in 1997. She competed in 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 the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organ ...

where she won a gold medal in Goalball. Alsop was again selected to compete with Team Canada at the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

, where she won another gold medal by only allowing in 1.5 goals on 419 shots. As a result, she was nominated by Saskatchewan Blind Sports for the 2004 Athlete of the Month Award. She captained Team Canada at 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 ...

, where the team placed fifth. After retiring, she was hired at SaskTel in Regina as a service development manager. In 2013, she was appointed community co-chair of the Citizen Consultation Team by the Government of Saskatchewan.

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Canadian female goalball players Paralympic goalball players for Canada Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Paralympic medalists in goalball Goalball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Parapan American Games gold medalists for Canada Parapan American Games medalists in goalball Medalists at the 2011 Parapan American Games University of Saskatchewan alumni Sportspeople from Saskatoon 21st-century Canadian sportswomen {{Goalball-bio-stub