| First-year Engineering student Lisa Franks is quite simply the fastest woman wheelchair athlete in the world, and she proved it over and over again at the Paralympic Games held in Sydney, Australia Oct. 19-29. On Franks’ first day back at university Nov. 6, U of S Pres. Peter MacKinnon congratulates her and admires her four gold medals and one silver. MacKinnon says, "The whole University is enormously proud of Lisa’s magnificent achievements and we come together in warmly congratulating her and wishing her all the best in her future studies and athletic endeavors." Franks, from Moose Jaw, has burst onto the world wheelchair athletics scene, only 18 years old and racing for just three years but already holding a world record in the 5,000-metres and setting a new Paralympics record in the 800-metres. In Sydney, she won gold in the 200-metres, 400-metres, 800-metres, and 1,500-metres, and a silver in the 100-metres. In Moose Jaw, Franks was training four hours a day, six days a week. This fall at the U of S, she has practised at Griffiths Stadium for two hours a day. Franks says she’s eager to keep competing – and after a break for a few weeks now, she may be back competing in Sydney in January. Another Paralympian with U of S connections also won gold. Alumna Amy Alsop, who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, was a member of the Canadian goalball team that won the gold medal at the Paralympic Games. Alsop, 22, from Saskatoon, is the team’s starting centre. Goalball is a sport for visually impaired athletes. |
