Michelle Stilwell of Canada celebrates winning gold in the women's 200m - T52 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
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Silver medalist Marieke Vervoort of Belgium, Gold medalist Michelle Stilwell of Canada and bronze medalist Kerry Morgan of the United States pose on the podium during the medal ceremony in the Women's 200m - T52 at the London Paralympics
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Twelve years after winning gold as part of Canada’s Wheelchair Basketball team at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, Michelle Stilwell was again top of the podium at London 2012, but this time as a wheelchair racer.
Stilwell took up Athletics in 2004 after injury caused her to quit the basketball court.
Her first major international event was the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships where she claimed gold in the 200m (39.51) and silver in the 100m (22.15).
Two years later at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, Stilwell was in record-breaking form. She set a new world record (19.97) to win 100m gold and smashed the Paralympic record (36.18) on her way to victory in the 200m.
Seven months prior to the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand, Stilwell lowered the 100m world record to 19.52 at a meeting in Switzerland.
When she arrived in New Zealand she was in great form.
She won gold and set Championship records in the 100m (20.35), 200m (37.12) and 400m (1:12.71) beating the USA’s Kerri Morgan and Japan’s Teruyo Tanaka into silver and bronze respectively in all three races. In the 800m she took silver (2:30.80), just behind Morgan who claimed gold.
Underlining her dominance in the T52 class, Stilwell broke the 200m world record in June 2011 with a time of 35.22 seconds at a meeting in Florida, USA.
‘Mikey’ as her teammates call her, enjoyed a great rivalry at London 2012 with Belgian athlete Marike Vervoort. In the 200m (33.80) Stilwell struck gold breaking the Paralympic record to leave Vervoort with silver. The roles were reversed in the 100m with the Belgian taking gold (19.69) in a Paralympic record time, whilst Stilwell had to settle for silver 0.11 seconds behind.
Her sport and life philosophy is an Aristotle quote – “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.”
Stilwell, who holds a bachelors degree in Neuropsychology from the University of Calgary, Canada was so inspired by Rio’s 10 minute section of the London Closing Ceremony that she has decided to compete through until 2016.
The good news is that we can expect a lot more of her rivalry with Verwoort.
