Scot Hollonbeck (born 1969) is an American

wheelchair racer Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and field, track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are c ...

, who competed at the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

and

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 ...

level. At the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, he placed second in the 1500m wheelchair racing event.

2000 Summer Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, he placed fourth in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. At the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, he finished 4th in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. Men's 1500m wheelchair. At the 1992 Olympic Games, he finished 5th in the 1500m wheelchair racing event. Men's 1500m wheelchairHe competed in four consecutive

Summer Olympic The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

finals, winning one silver medal and

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 ...

from 1992 to 2004, winning a total of two gold and three silver medals and one bronze. Hollonbeck became a

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...

at age 14 after being hit by a van while bicycling to swim practice. Only days after the accident, while still in the hospital, he watched a wheelchair race on television where Sharon Hedrick broke the world record in the 800 meters. Having been a competitive runner he immediately became interested in the sport and attended a camp for disabled athletes at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

the next summer. While attending

Rochelle Township High School Rochelle Township High School, commonly referred to as RTHS, is a secondary school located in Rochelle, Illinois. RTHS is the only school operated by Rochelle Township High School District 212. The district includes portions of Ogle, Text list/r ...

Rochelle, Illinois Rochelle is a city in Ogle and Lee counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,446 at the 2020 census. Rochelle is approximately west of Chicago and south of Rockford. History Originally named "Lane", the town sits at the inter ...

, he was a member of the school's

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

team. As a sophomore, he was allowed to race in a wheelchair division. As the only wheeler he often raced in mixed heats with runners, the wheeler and runner heats were scored separately. For his last two years of high school, however, the school barred him from competing in mixed heats with runners because of safety issues. Despite the fact that Scot trained every day with the runner in mixed practices, he was deemed "unsafe" during competition. In 1987 Hollonbeck filed a lawsuit against the school system. This was the first case in the country concerning the right for disabled students to compete on their school teams. In late 1988, after he had graduated from the school, a

federal judge Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state/provincial/local level. United States A U.S. federal judge is appointed by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Arti ...

ruled that school officials had violated his

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, as provided for in the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 () is a United States federal law, codified at et seq. The principal sponsor of the bill was Rep. John Brademas (D-IN-3). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaces preexisting laws (collectively referred to as the ...

, by not allowing him to argue his case. The judge did not rule on whether high school wheelchair athletes should be able to compete alongside or against their non-disabled peers. Hollonbeck received an athletic scholarship to the

and was a member of the school's wheelchair basketball and track and field teams. He later moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

to work for The Coca-Cola Company in the Worldwide Sports Department. Hollonbeck was awarded the 1999 United Nations Outstanding Athlete Award for his work on and off the track. He served as the International Paralympic Committee's sport of Athletics elected athlete representative from 1998 through 2002. He also served on the United State Olympic Committees Athletes Advisory Committee from 1998 through 2002. Seeing the need to bring in new corporate funding for the US Paralympic movement he founded Vie Sports Marketing Inc which was selected as United States Olympic Committee exclusive Paralympic Marketing Agency from 2002 to 2004. After over a decade of disabled athlete and sport inclusion challenges Hollonbeck returned to the courts for relief. Hollonbeck along with Tony Iniguez and Jacob Heilveil filed an athlete discrimination lawsuit in 2003 against the United States Olympic Committee. The case made its way to the US Supreme Court and was instrumental in fundamentally changing the USOC's Paralympic Athlete policy and funding. In his spare time, Hollonbeck has served numerous organizations focussed on health, wellness and environmental resilience. In his mid to late 40's he returned to competing in the sport of triathlon ultimately qualifying and competing in the Ironman Kona World Championships in 2013 and 2016. He continues to be a disabled sports policy and disability rights advocate.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollonbeck, Scot 1969 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Illinois Fighting Illini Paralympic athletes Olympic wheelchair racers for the United States Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States Paralympic silver medalists for the United States People from Rochelle, Illinois Sportspeople from Illinois Wheelchair racers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wheelchair racers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Wheelchair racers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Wheelchair racers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic male wheelchair racers American male wheelchair racers People with paraplegia Paralympic wheelchair racers Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Track and field athletes from Illinois 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen