The Maccabi Awards will be honoring Louise Sauvage, 39-years-old, in August. Louise is a world class athlete who has captured international attention and rolled over stereotypes. At 18-years-old she announced, to the skepticism of many, that she would become a professional athlete with an income to match. She did just that. She changed the way people looked at athletes competing with disabilities. She created awareness, education and acceptance.
J-Wire, an online news source, reported that Louise competed for Australia in four Paralympic Games (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens), three Olympic Games (Atlanta, Sydney and Athens) in the 800m Women’s Wheelchair Demonstration Race, the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. During such time, she set world records in everything on the track from the 100m to 5000m.
During her career she won nine Gold and four Silver Paralympic medals, two Gold and one Bronze Olympic medal, Commonwealth Games Silver, five IAAF World Championship Gold and victories in some of the world’s most prestigious road races including 4 Boston Marathon titles and 1st place victories in the Los Angeles, Honolulu and Berlin Marathons.
This isn’t the first time Louise has been awarded publicly for her achievements. She is already inducted into in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, and she has been given Legend status in the NSW Hall of Champions, as well as named Australian Female Athlete of the Year, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, Australian Paralympian of the Year (four times) and International Female Wheelchair Athlete of the Year (two times). She is an amazing women and continues to touch people’s lives.