Iréne Slättengren (born 18 May 1952) is a Swedish former

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

and

audiologist Audiology (from Latin 'to hear'; and from Greek branch of learning , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By ...

. She won gold medals in the individual championship test grade II and individual freestyle test grade II dressage events 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 ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Personal life

Slättengren is from

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

, Sweden. As a youngstar, she contracted

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

which caused a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

. Aside from equestrianism, Slättengren has worked as an

Linköping University Hospital Linköping University Hospital (; abbreviated ''US'' in Sweden) is a university hospital in Linköping, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Nort ...

Career

Slättengren started competing in 1997, and trained at Linköpings RS. At the

, Slättengren competed on the horse ''Larino'', as her own horse was injured. She won both the individual championship test grade II and individual freestyle test grade II events. She was the first Paralympic medallist from Linköping, and was aged 52 at the time. Slättengren also had the third best individual performance in the team event, and the Swedish team finished fourth. Slättengren competed at the 2007 World Para Dressage Championships, and was considered one of the favourites. She failed to qualify for 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 ...

as her horse ''Mauritz'' was injured during the selection trials.

Carolin Rutberg Carolin is a given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Carolin Babcock (1912–1987), female tennis player from the United States *Carolin Bachmann (born 1988), German politician *Carolin Fortenbacher (born 1963), German Musica ...

was selected instead.

References

External links

* * 1952 births Living people Swedish female equestrians Paralympic equestrians for Sweden Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Sweden Audiologists Sportspeople from Linköping 21st-century Swedish women 20th-century Swedish sportswomen {{Equestrian-bio-stub