Cheri Blauwet

Sport: Track and Field
Residence: Larchwood, Iowa

Cheri Blauwet is a medical student at Stanford University in California and a Paralympic Gold Medalist in wheelchair racing. Originally born and raised on a farm in Iowa, she has built upon her athletic success and academic performance to travel the world and create a platform that draws upon the perspectives of health, wellness, social change, and personal empowerment.

A snapshot of her past athletic success includes:

• Winner, 2004 and 2005 Boston Marathon
• Winner, 2003 and 2004 New York City Marathon
• Winner, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Los Angeles Marathon.
• Gold Medal, 2004 Athens Paralympic Games: 800 meters
• Bronze Medals, 2004 Athens Paralympic Games: 5000 meters and Marathon

As a result of these wins, she was nominated for the 2003 Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year, in addition to two consecutive nominations, in 2004 and 2005, for the ESPY award in the category Best Disabled Athlete. Cheri was also a nominee for the 2005 Laureus World Sport Award within the category “World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.”

In 2004, Cheri was named a winner of the 2004 Paul Hearne Leadership Award, given to 3 emerging leaders annually by the American Association of People with Disabilities. She has also done work at the International Paralympic Committee, promoting international sporting opportunities and a mechanism for international development, and with Rehabilitation International, a large multilateral disability rights membership organization. Ultimately, she would like to either practice medicine and push for disability rights and advocacy as a physician, or start her own organization (perhaps an extension of No Brakes!) that continues to promote these concepts globally.

For several years, Cheri has worked closely with The Hartford, founding sponsor of U.S. Paralympics®, to raise public awareness of what people with disabilities can achieve at work, in sport and in all aspects of life.