She fits the bill perfectly.
Vernon Paralympian wheelchair curler and Canada Sports Hall of Fame member Sonja Gaudet will be featured on the panel of Storytelling Series: Celebrating Winter Olympic and Paralympic Sports Heroes Wednesday, Feb. 25.
It’s a national livestream event that uses the power of athlete stories to explore the values behind the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The link to register for the 9 a.m. Pacific conversation can be found here.
Gaudet – who will reach a milestone 60th birthday in July – was born in North Vancouver, and grew up playing a variety of sports, from basketball and volleyball to tennis, swimming, and skiing.
She moved to Vernon and, at age 31, her outlook on life was changed forever when a horseback riding accident left her paralyzed from the chest down.
Gaudet was introduced to wheelchair curling by chance when the Vernon Curling Club asked her for advice regarding renovating a wheelchair accessible washroom. The club was preparing to host a beginner’s wheelchair curling clinic, and Gaudet’s interest was piqued.
She ended up participating, and at the age of 37 discovered a passion and natural affinity for the sport.
By the time Gaudet started competing in wheelchair curling internationally, she was an unstoppable force.
Playing lead, she helped Team Canada capture a gold medal at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, the same year the sport debuted as a Paralympic event. She repeated her gold medal performance with Team Canada at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in front of a hometown crowd in Vancouver, and again at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, where she was honoured as Canada’s opening ceremonies flag bearer.
Her fellow B.C. teammate on the 2010 and 2014 Paralympic teams, Ina Forrest of Spallumcheen, will represent Canada in the sport next month at the 2026 Paralympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.
Always keen to find ways to improve her game, Gaudet was the first wheelchair curler to use an innovative piece of equipment in international competition, an aluminum “balance post” attached to her chair that enabled her to maintain balance, control and strength when throwing a rock, allowing for far greater accuracy and distance control.
Gaudet was awarded the Order of Sport and inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2020-21. She was also featured on an official Canada Post postage stamp in 2018 as part of a Women in Winter Sports commemorative series of stamps.