Three new members inducted to INAS Hall of Fame

“On behalf of everybody at INAS we welcome Lisa, Heidi and Jennifer to the INAS Hall of Fame and thank them for their lifetime contribution”.

As part of its ongoing 30th anniversary celebrations, the International Federation for Sport for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability (INAS) inducted athletes Lisa Llorens and Heidi Mackowitz, and Professor Jennifer Mactavish to the INAS Hall of Fame.

Australia’s track and field athlete Llorens won one gold and one bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games, for which she received the Medal of Order of Australia.

She added three golds and one silver to her haul at Sydney 2000, also breaking the world record in the long jump F20. The Australian Paralympic Committee describes her as "Australia’s most outstanding female athlete with an intellectual disability."

In 1997, Llorens was awarded the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Female Sport Star of the Year and Young Canberra Citizen of the Year and in November 2015, she was inducted into the ACT Sport Hall of Fame.

Austria’s Mackowitz has been a member of her country’s ski national team since 2009, becoming INAS world champion one year later. In 2012, she was named Austria’s ‘Sportswoman of the year’ under the ‘person with a disability’ category.

Mackowitz suffered a serious accident whilst training in 2013 and had her femur broken. After a long rehabilitation, she conquered her fear for skiing, returned to competition and took one silver and one bronze at the INAS World Skiing Championship in Poland earlier this year.

Canadian Professor Mactavish has been instrumental in working towards the inclusion of athletes with an intellectual disability in sports.

Her greatest contribution came as part of the joint INAS/IPC group that sought to establish classification procedures to enable athletes with an intellectual disability to compete again in Paralympic sports.

“It is a great honour to recognise such fantastic performances, particularly in this, our 30th anniversary year,” said INAS President Amaury Russo.

“On behalf of everybody at INAS we welcome Lisa, Heidi and Jennifer to the INAS Hall of Fame and thank them for their lifetime contribution”.