261000 - Athletics track 200m T20 Lisa Llorens gold medal podium - 3b - 2000 Sydney medal photo

261000 - Athletics track Lisa Llorens starting blocks - 3b - 2000 Sydney race photo

23 ACPS Atlanta 1996 Track Sharon Rackham Chris Nunn

Lisa Christina Llorens, OAM(born 17 January 1978) is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. She specialises in Paralympic high jumping, long jumping, and sprinting, participating in competitions for athletes with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. Llorens is known as "The Cheetah" because she has a great affinity with cheetahs. She commented "I feel like I have a connection with the cheetahs, because I'm quite shy, like a cat, and I run so fast." An educational documentary was made about her called ''Lisa Llorens: A Cheetah on the Track''. From 1998 to 2002, she held an athletics scholarship from the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

for Athletes with a Disability. Llorens competed at the

1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympic Games, Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games ...

in Atlanta, winning gold and bronze medals in track and field events. She received a Medal of the Order of Australia for her 1996 gold medal. She also represented Australia at 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 last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and won three gold medals in the 200 metre sprint, the high jump, and the long jump, and a silver medal in the 100 metre sprint. She broke the Paralympic world record three times during her four long jumps. Llorens also competed at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 1994, winning silver in both the long jump and the 200m; and in 1998, won gold in the 100m, high jump, and long jump . She took part in the

Paralympic World Cup The Paralympic World Cup is an annual international multi-sport event for elite athletes with a disability, that has been hosted in Manchester, England, since 2005. It is organized by the British Paralympic Association (BPA) in coordination wit ...

in 1998, winning gold in the 100 metre sprint, the high jump and the long jump. In 2004, due to the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

's decision to remove events for intellectually disabled athletes from its official activities, Llorens retired, as she felt that there was nothing left for her to achieve in sport. The Australian Paralympic Committee describes her as "Australia’s most outstanding female athlete with an intellectual disability", along with Crystal-Lea Adams. In 1997, she was awarded the Australian Capital Territory Female Sportstar of the Year, and Young Canberra Citizen of the Year. In November 2015, she was inducted into the ACT Sport Hall of Fame. In 2016, Llorens was induced into the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS) Hall of Fame.

References

External links

25 ACPS Atlanta 1996 Athletics Sharon Rackham and Lisa Llorens

"Australian cheetah hunts down rivals"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 7 November 2000

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llorens, Lisa 1978 births Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Australian female high jumpers Australian female long jumpers Australian female sprinters Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic track and field athletes Intellectual Disability category Paralympic competitors Living people Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic athletes of Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Sportspeople with autism Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sportswomen from the Australian Capital Territory ACT Academy of Sport alumni Competitors in athletics with intellectual disability Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women