Dennis Thiessen (born April 20, 1961, in

Crystal City, Manitoba Crystal City is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in the Municipality of Louise within the Canadian province of Manitoba. It held village status prior to January 1, 2015. It is located on Highway 3, 16 kilometres ...

) is a Canadian wheelchair curler who was part of the winning team in wheelchair curling for Canada at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. He played on the winning Canadian team at the 2013 World Wheelchair Curling Championship. His disability is that at seventeen he lost his leg. He is the only

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

n on the team and lives in Sanford, Manitoba. He was inducted into the

Canadian Curling Hall of Fame The Canadian Curling Hall of Fame was established with its first inductees in 1973. It is operated by Curling Canada, the governing body for curling in Canada, in Orleans, Ontario. The Hall of Fame selection committee meets annually to choose indu ...

in 2019.

Personal

Thiessen was born in

on April 20, 1961, and now resides in Sanford, Manitoba. He is married and has 2 children. In 1978, when Thiessen was 17 years old, he had an accident in his family's farm and had lost his leg. He was suggested to give wheelchair curling a try in 2005. He said that he was really inspired by another Manitoban winter sportsperson

Cindy Klassen Cindy Klassen, (born August 12, 1979) is a Canadian retired long track speed skater. She is a six-time medallist having achieved one gold, two silver, three bronze at the Winter Olympics. She is the only Canadian Olympian to win five medals in ...

and that she was "the ultimate professional and a great representative of Canada". He had also started the organization "Manitoba Farmers with Disabilities".

Career

Sochi 2014

At the age of 52, Thiessen has competed in his first Paralympic Games, he made the tryout two years before in 2012. After seeing the team, he said that "It was just an unbelievable feeling," Canada won the spot at the top of the podium by beating Russia 8–3. "It was an emotional high" explained Thiessen who has just won his first Paralympic Medal.

References

External links

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Dennis Thiessen
at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiessen, Dennis 1961 births Living people Canadian male curlers Canadian wheelchair curlers Paralympic wheelchair curlers for Canada Paralympic medalists in wheelchair curling Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Wheelchair curlers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Wheelchair curlers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Wheelchair curlers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Curlers from Manitoba World wheelchair curling champions Canadian wheelchair curling champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen