McMaster student a double medal star at Paralympic Games in Athens

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/walker_head.jpe.jpeg” caption=”McMaster occupational therapy student Elisabeth Walker won silver and bronze in the swimming competitions at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.”]It started with a bronze moment and ended with a silver celebration. Elisabeth Walker, McMaster occupational therapy student in the School of Rehabilitation Science, was a double medal winner in the swimming competitions at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.

Walker received bronze in the 50-meter butterfly and silver in the 4 x 100 medley relay.

Subsequent to completing an undergraduate degree at Brock University, Walker applied to the Master of Science Program in Occupational Therapy at McMaster in January 2002. She was invited to join the graduate program in the fall of 2002 and completed Year 1 of the program. It soon became well known that Walker, who won gold at the Sydney games, wished to achieve the same at the 2004 games in Athens. She was granted a leave of absence in September 2003, and devoted herself to the rigorous regimen of training and competition. Having decided that 2004 would be her final year in the paralympic games, her wish was to complete her last games with another triumphant win, and she succeeded in winning not one but two medals.

Although born with two shortened arms, a condition known as dysmelia, Walker is an avid athlete, haunting the local swimming pool, and joining many sports teams. In a recent interview with her mother Johanna Walker, it was apparent the entire family beams with pride. “We are extremely proud of her especially since she had competed against other athletes, who though disabled, have full arms. She just had to be that much faster,” she said.

Walker will return to the OT program in September 2005.