Lisa Franks
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan | 6 April 1982|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lisa Franks (born 6 April 1982 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian paralympic athlete from competing mainly in category T52 wheelchair sprint events. Throughout her wheelchair racing career she set world records in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, and marathon events, of which none still stand.
Career
Lisa has won six paralympic gold medals. In the 2000 Summer Paralympics she won gold medals in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m and a silver medal in the 100m. In 2004 she defended her 200m and 400m titles. In readiness for the 2008 Summer Paralympics Lisa had taken up wheelchair basketball and was a part of the Canadian team that finished fifth.[1]
Personal life
On April 18, 1996, just after Frank's fourteenth birthday, she woke up in the middle of the night unable to move her legs. By the end of that day she had lost function of her arms as well, though had regained use of those after rehabilitation. Franks was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a condition that caused clusters of blood vessels to prevent blood from properly passing by her spinal cord.[2]
She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2006 with a Bachelor of Engineering and a focus in mechanical engineering.[3]