Sanaa Benhama (born 9 June 1982) is a

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. She has competed at two

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebr ...

, most notably 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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

where she won three gold medals dominating the sprint field in her class.

Personal history

Benhama was born in Khemisset, Morocco in 1982.

Athletics career

Benhama, who trains out of Association Handisport Ennasser in

Salé Salé (, ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Along with some smaller nearby towns, Rabat and Salé form together a single m ...

, made her senior debut as a T13 classification athlete at a meet in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

in 2008. Later that year she made her full international debut when she was selected as part of the Morocco team to compete at the

in Beijing. She competed in four events, the three sprints and the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. In the long jump she made the last eight allowing her to compete at three more attempts, but with her best some distance from the leading pack Benhama withdrew with two jumps remaining, finishing in sixth place. It was in the sprint events that Benhama made an impact at the Games. She began with the 400 metre sprint, qualifying in the fastest time and then setting a new Paralympic record of 55.56 seconds in the finals to take her first gold medal of the Games. She followed this two days later with another gold, this time in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, in which she beat her nearest rival, France's

Nantenin Keïta Nantenin Keïta (born 5 November 1984) is a French people, French Track and field, athlete who competes mainly in Paralympic category T13 sprint events. She is the daughter of the Malian musician Salif Keita and thus a direct descendant of the fo ...

by over half a second. Her final event of the 2008 Paralympics was the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

(T13), in which she set a Paralympic record in the heats, qualifying with a time of 12.38 seconds. In the final, an event beset with heavy rain, Benhama recorded a time of 12.28 to take her third gold medal and set a new world record. Three years later Benhama represented Morocco at the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with disabilities competed, and the Championships were a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Over 1,000 ath ...

in Christchurch. She took three medals across the sprints, but failed to secure gold in any of them, being beaten by South Africa's

Ilse Hayes Ilse Hayes (born 30 August 1985), also known as Ilse Carstens, is a Paralympian athlete from South Africa competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. Hayes has competed for her country at four Summer Paralympics beginning with the 2004 Sum ...

in the

and Cuba'a

Omara Durand Omara Durand Elías (born 26 November 1991 in Santiago de Cuba) is a visually impaired Cubans, Cuban sprinter, who competes in T12 and T13 events.200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

to take two silver medals; with a bronze in the 400 metre event. The birth of her son in 2012, meant that Benhama took a break from racing that year, and was unable to defend her Paralympic titles in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The next year she was back in international competition and won three medals at the

2013 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2013 World Para Athletics Championships, IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 Jul ...

in Lyon. a gold in the 100 metres, a bronze in the 200 metres, and her only major international medal in the long jump, a silver. Two years later she entered the 2015 World Championships in Doha she won two bronze medals, in the

200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...

and 400 metre races. Benhama also represented her country 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 ...

in Rio de Janeiro, but did not make the podium in either of her two events, the 100 metre and 400 metre races.

Notes

External links

*
Video of Benhama taking the 400 metres bronze at the 2013 World Championships in Doha.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benhama, Sanaa Moroccan female sprinters Moroccan female long jumpers Paralympic athletes for Morocco Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Morocco 1982 births Living people Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Moroccan women 20th-century Moroccan people 21st-century Moroccan sportswomen People from Khemisset Sportspeople from Rabat-Salé-Kénitra