Doris Mader (born 3 February 1976) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player who has competed for her country at the national level. She won the silver medal in the women's individual class 3 table tennis at 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 ...

Career

Doris Mader started playing

when she was seven, in part due to her father who was a table tennis instructor. In 2002, while studying

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

, she lost motion in her legs. This was caused by a

tumour A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue (biology), tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tiss ...

on her spine. Following surgery, she underwent rehabilitation at the Weißer Hof facility in

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg () is a town in the Tulln District of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Frequently abbreviated to Kloburg by locals, it has a population of about 27,500. The Stift Klosterneuburg ( Klosterneuburg Monastery), which was establish ...

. Following her disability, she took up

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

table tennis, competing for Austria. She met Andreas Vevera while at Weißer Hof, and the two trained together in the sport. Both competed 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 ...

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, where Vevera won the gold medal in the men's individual class 1, while Mader finished fifth in women's individual class 3. Those roles were reversed at the 2012 Games in London, England, where Vevera was eliminated early. He then coached Mader as she won the silver medal in her class, following defeat by Sweden's

Anna-Carin Ahlquist Anna-Carin Ahlquist (born 5 June 1972) is a Swedish in wheelchair table tennis player and paralympic champion. Ahlquist represented Sweden at the 2008, 2012, 2016 Summer Paralympics, and 2020 Summer Paralympics. She won a gold medal in single an ...

in the final. Mader competed again 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil, but without Vevera for the first time. However, Mader failed to win any medals after being eliminated from the tournament in the round of 16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mader, Doris Living people Austrian female table tennis players Paralympic silver medalists for Austria Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 20th-century Austrian women 21st-century Austrian sportswomen Paralympic athletes for Austria 1976 births Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in table tennis Place of birth missing (living people)