Sandra "Sandy" Dukat (born May 3, 1972) is an American

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. Born with

proximal femoral focal deficiency Proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), also known as congenital femoral deficiency (CFD), is a rare, non-hereditary birth defect that affects the pelvis, particularly the hip bone, and the proximal femur. The disorder may affect one side or bo ...

, she had her right leg amputated above the knee at the age of four. She has competed internationally in

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

, swimming and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

. , she holds the marathon world record for above-knee amputee women.

Sporting career

Dukat grew up competing in able-bodied sports. She played basketball, high-jumped and was on her high school swim team. When she called the

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), is a not-for-profit physical medicine and rehabilitation research hospital based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1954, the AbilityLab is designed for patient c ...

(RIC) looking for an amputee support group, she found out about their sports teams. It was only then that she learned that Paralympic sport existed.

Swimming

In 1996, Dukat joined the swim team at the RIC. In 1997, she won 2 silver and 1 bronze medals at the USA National Championships, and won her classification at the National 5K Disabled Open Water Invitational. She was named to the US Disabled Swim Team in 1998. At the 1998 Disabled World Swimming Championships, she broke the then S9 American record in the 800 metre freestyle event and was co-captain of the US Team. She did not, however, make finals at the meet.

Skiing

Dukat first became interested in skiing in 1997, after attending the Disabled Sports USA Hartford Ski Spectacular. She started to ski in the RIC Paralympic Sports Program, then committed to training 6 months of each year at the

National Sports Center for the Disabled The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that began in 1970 providing ski lessons for children with amputations. Today, the NSCD is one of the largest therapeutic recreation organizations in the w ...

in Colorado. Dukat won two bronze medals for alpine skiing at the

2002 Winter Paralympics The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from 7 to 16 March 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the Ameri ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

and one bronze medal at the

2006 Winter Paralympics The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games (), the ninth Paralympic Winter Games, took place in Turin, Italy, from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were also the first Paralympics to use the n ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. At the 2004

IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships The World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, known before the 2017 edition as the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, along with the Paralympic Games, Winter Paralympic Games, are the most prestigious level of international competition in Paraly ...

, she won bronze medals in 3 events, downhill,

Giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

and

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

. She had success in the

IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup The World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup (previously called the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup) is an annual circuit of elite Paralympic alpine skiing, disabled alpine skiing competitions, regulated by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and t ...

, achieving many podium finishes; in the 2003–2004 season, she finished fifth overall. Dukat retired from competitive skiing in 2007.

Triathlon

Dukat turned to triathlon as a way to keep motivated and active during the skiing off-season. In 2003, she won the Physically Challenged division of the Olympic distance St Anthony's triathlon. In 2004, she was named to the US Paralympic Triathlon Development Team. She was on the USA Triathlon Physically Challenged National Team in 2008. Dukat won the women's Above Knee division of the

USA Triathlon USA Triathlon (USAT) is the national governing body for the multisport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. USA Triathlon is a member federation of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and ...

Paratriathlon National Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, she represented the US at the

ITU Triathlon World Championships The World Triathlon Championship Series is an annual series of triathlon events organised by World Triathlon. The series is used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. Previously, the ITU (the former name of World Triathlon) world champio ...

in Vancouver. She became 2008 World Champion in her above knee impairment classification, and was named 2008 USA Triathlon Paratriathlete of the Year.

Running

Having previously competed in 5K, 10K and half marathon races, Dukat ran her first marathon in January 2009. She was paced by training partner and below-knee amputee world record holder

Amy Palmiero-Winters Amy Palmiero-Winters (born August 18, 1972) is a below-knee amputee, long-distance runner, and triathlete. She holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the U ...

. With a time of 4:40:46, she was the first female above-knee amputee to finish a marathon in less than 5 hours.

Personal life

In 2007, Dukat was one of five disabled female alpine skiers who climbed

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

as a fundraiser, starting a scholarship program for disabled female alpine skiers at the

in Colorado. Dukat attended

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

. For a number of years, she worked as an information specialist for the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability. She now works at

The Hartford The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is an American investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranked 160th in Fortune ...

, liaising with US Paralympics. In this role, she won the USOC's Amazing Impact Award for The Hartford's 'Achieve Without Limits' campaign in 2011. In 2023, she was inducted into the Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dukat, Sandy 1972 births Living people American amputees American disabled sportspeople American female alpine skiers American female long-distance runners American female marathon runners American female triathletes Paralympic alpine skiers for the United States Paratriathletes Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Sportspeople from Canton, Ohio Wittenberg University alumni World record holders in para-athletics 21st-century American sportswomen