CANADIANS TO WATCH

Patrick Anderson, Wheelchair Basketball

The 42-year-old from Fergus, Ont., is widely considered the greatest wheelchair basketball player in history. He led Canada to gold medals (2000, ‘04 and ‘12, and silver in ‘08), but took a hiatus and missed the 2016 Games to focus on his music career. He and wife Anna Paddock make up the Indie singer-songwriter duo The Lay Awakes. Anderson lost both his legs below the knee when he was struck by a drunk driver at age nine.

Jennifer Oakes, Sitting Volleyball

The 24-year-old from Calgary played on Alberta’s provincial volleyball team before she lost her right leg below the knee in a boating accident in 2015. She happened to be recovering in hospital during the Parapan Am Games in Toronto, and after a member of the national sitting team reached out, Oakes joined the sitting team and barely missed a beat. Oakes competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, and also for the UBCO’s able-bodied team the following year.

Nate Riech, Track and Field

The 26-year-old from Victoria is one of track and field’s emerging stars, shattering the world record in both the Paralympic 800 and 1,500 the first time he ran them in 2018. At age 10, Riech suffered a brain injury that affects movement in the right side of his body when he was hit in the head with a golf ball from 150 yards away.

Brent Lakatos, Track and Field

The 41-year-old from Dorval, Que., is one of Canada’s most decorated Paralympics, with 11 world titles and seven Paralympic medals. Lakatos is racing all six distances on the track in Tokyo — 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,500 and 5,000 metres. He has used a wheelchair since suffering a blood clot in his spine when he slid into the boards playing hockey at age six.

Aurelie Rivard, Swimming

The 25-year-old from Saint-Jeansur-Richelieu, Que., was chosen to carry Canada’s flag into the closing ceremony at the 2016 Rio Olympics after her triple gold medal performance in the pool. She also won a silver. These are Rivard’s third and perhaps final Paralympics.