Charlotte Bolton (born June 27, 2003) is a Canadian para athlete. She competes in F41 throwing events. She has won 29 medals at the

World Dwarf Games The World Dwarf Games (''WDG'') are a multi-sport event for athletes of short stature. The WDG have been held every four years since 1993 and are the world's largest sporting event exclusively for athletes with skeletal dysplasia. Many Paralympian ...

and a bronze medal in discus 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 ...

Early life and education

Bolton was born on June 27, 2003 to parents Scot Bolton and Bridget Fearon. She has cartilage-hair hypoplasia, a rare form of

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...

. She has a sister, Madelyn. Bolton attended Glendale High School in Tillsonburg. She is studying international biomedical sciences at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, where she also competes on the varsity team.

Career

At the 2013

in East Lansing, Michigan, Bolton won seven gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal in the 7 to 11-year-old Junior A youth division. Her medals included gold in shot put, javelin, discus, 40-metre, 60-metre, soccer, mixed volleyball and table tennis, as well as silver medals in the mixed-age relay, 25-metre freestyle and 25-metre backstroke, and bronze in the 25-metre relay. In 2015, she wrote an original song, "Strong," which received over 5,500 views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. She performed "Strong" as well as other songs with her father at the Summer Daze Acoustic Concert Series in Tillsonburg. Bolton won 17 medals in her 12-15 year old division at the 2017 World Dwarf Games held in Guelph: ten gold, six silver and one bronze. She competed in badminton, basketball, soccer, swimming, track and field, table tennis and volleyball. She joined the Woodstock Legion Athletic Club in 2018 to concentrate training on throwing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as her high school classes shifted online, Bolton was able to train with the national coach Richard Parkinson at the East Hub in Toronto. Bolt holds three F41 national records. In June 2021, Bolton set the Canadian F41 discus record at the Royal City Inferno Track & Field Festival in Guelph, tossing 29.65 metres. She made her Paralympic debut at 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 ...

in Tokyo. At 18 years old, she was the youngest member of Canada's para-athletics team. Bolton placed 6th in both the women's F41 shot put and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

. She won bronze in the women's discus throw F41 at the

, her Parapan Am debut. She also came fifth in the women's F41 shot put. At the

2023 World Para Athletics Championships The 2023 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was the 10th edition of the event and was held in the Charlety St ...

, Bolton placed ninth in the women's F41 shot put. She placed eighth in the women's discus throw F41. Bolton 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 Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

. She placed 10th in the women's F41 shotput and 6th in the women's F41 discus. She trains full time at the

Athletics Canada Athletics Canada or AC () is the national governing body for athletics in Canada, which includes track and field, cross-country running, road running, and race walking. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Athletics Canada is a non-profit organization. The ...

East Hub in Toronto.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Charlotte 2003 births Living people Canadian female discus throwers Canadian female shot putters Paralympic track and field athletes for Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Parapan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Parapan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Competitors in athletics with dwarfism York University alumni Sportspeople from Tillsonburg 21st-century Canadian sportswomen