Published November 15, 2023, 12:46 PM ET
Canadian wheelchair tennis player Rob Shaw poses in this handout photo dated January 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Alexis Shareck/Tennis Canada
SANTIAGO, CHILE – Para-cyclist Shelley Gautier and wheelchair tennis player Rob Shaw have been named Canada’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the Santiago Parapan Am Games.
Gautier, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, is an 18-time world champion. At the Cycling World Championships this summer, she won two bronze medals in both the T1 road race and the time trial.
These are their third Parapan Am Games after Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015. She holds two Parapan Am silver medals. The 55-year-old is a three-time Paralympian (2012, 2016, 2020) and won a bronze medal in Rio 2016.
Shaw, the world No. 9 in the four-man singles event, is the reigning Parapan Am gold medalist after winning the title at the Lima Games four years ago.
The 33-year-old, who now lives in Kelowna, B.C., became the first Canadian tennis player – standing or wheelchair – to win a singles medal at a multi-sport Games.
He owns 22 career International Tennis Federation singles and 22 ITF doubles titles and made his debut at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2023.
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