Canada's Ina Forrest competes against Sweden during the wheelchair curling competition at the Winter Paralympics on March 7.Dita Alangkara/The Associated Press
Ina Forrest is 59, a wife, a mother to three and a wheelchair curler participating in her third Paralympics.
The British Columbian, who was paralyzed at age 21 when she was struck by a drunk driver, is one of 13 women on Canada’s 48-person team at the 2022 Paralympic Games, which kicked off in Beijing late last week. (Canada isn’t the only country with a gender disparity: Only 138 of this year’s 564 Paralympians are women.)
The other female athletes making up this country’s small-but-mighty Paralympic contingent include Lisa Dejong, a 32-year-old from Saskatchewan, who on Monday became the first Canadian to win a snowboarding medal (bronze) at the Paralympics. Natalie Wilkie won three medals as a 17-year-old cross-country skier at the 2018 Paralympics in Korea and has already captured a gold in China.
Here are a few photos of their triumphs on the ice and the slopes.
With a flag affixed to her wheelchair, Ina Forrest and fellow flag-bearer Greg Westlake enter the Beijing National Stadium on March 4. The games continue until March 13.Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Oksana Masters of the United States celebrates after winning gold, the first such medal for her country, in March 5's biathlon event.Issei Kato/Reuters
Cross-country skier Brittany Hudak of Canada celebrates with her bronze medal on on March 7 after the women's long-distance classical technique standing.Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Brenna Huckaby of the United States, Lisa Bunschoten of the Netherlands, Cecile Hernandez of France and Lisa Dejong of Canada compete in March 7's women's snowboard cross SB-LL2 big final event.LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images
Gold medallist Anna-Lena Forster of Germany celebrates after the women's super combined sitting slalom event on March 7.WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Oksana Shyshkova of Ukraine in action at March 8's para biathlon (middle distance vision impaired). She won silver here and gold in a different biathlon event the day before.Issei Kato/Reuters
Bronze medallist Alana Ramsay of Canada celebrates after the women's para alpine skiing super combined sitting standing event on March 8.Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Hockey player You Jing, the only female member of the Chinese team, holds a rose sent by the organizer for International Women's Day on March 8 after a match against Italy.WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images