Rick Hansen

Richard Marvin Hansen ( born August 26, 1957 in Port Alberni, British Columbia) is a Canadian disabled athlete who is committed to people with spinal cord injuries. The in a car accident at the age of 15 years, injured his spinal cord Rick Hansen is best known for his Man In Motion World Tour. He was one of the torch-bearer at the Olympics 2010.

Life

Born in Port Alberni Rick Hansen grew up in Williams Lake. He was active in sports and won prizes in five sports. At the age of 15, he was seriously injured in a traffic accident and completely paralyzed. He pursued intensively his rehabilitation and became the first physically challenged student who graduated in Physical Education at the University of British Columbia in 1986.

He won national championships in the Canadian wheelchair volleyball and wheelchair basketball. He became one of the world's best wheelchair marathon athlete and participated in two Paralympics; at the Summer Paralympics 1980 Summer Paralympics 1984 he won three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. He won 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships. In high school, he also coached basketball and volleyball teams.

Rick Hansen is president and CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, which provided more than $ 200 million for programs for the treatment of spinal cord injury are available. He was referred to as " the driving force " in the development of the international information network iCord - Houses; the network is used for research on the treatment methods. The Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry provides information on spinal cord injuries to doctors and experts.

As chairman of both the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society and the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund Society Rick Hansen contributed to the protection of populations of sturgeon and salmon in British Columbia.

Man In Motion World Tour

In 1980 Terry Fox Marathon of Hope; inspired by this course of cancer-stricken athlete Rick Hansen decided to perform a similar action in order to provide the research surrounding spinal cord injury attention. His journey would take him in a wheelchair around the world.

On March 21, 1985, he began his Man in Motion World Tour in Vancouver at Oakridge Centre. Was the public's attention at the beginning of the tour is still low, pulled Rick Hansen's tour but soon attracted the attention of international media attention; in 26 months, he put more than 40,000 kilometers through 34 countries on four continents before he returned on 22 May 1987 following Vancouver, where he was welcomed in BC Place Stadium of thousands of spectators. He gathered up his tour $ 26 million for spinal cord research and initiatives of those concerned. How Terry Fox, he was hailed as a national hero.

The wheelchair and many other articles of the Man In Motion World Tour are on display in the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. David Foster composed in honor of Rick Hansen's tour the song " St. Elmo 's Fire ( Man in Motion ) "for the soundtrack of the film St. Elmo 's Fire.

Awards and honors

  • Special Achievement Award, University of British Columbia (1979-1982)
  • Outstanding Athlete of the Year, Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association ( 1980)
  • Lou Marsh / Canadian Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award; with Wayne Gretzky (1983 )
  • Outstanding Young Person of the World for personal improvement and accomplishment by Junior Chamber International (1983 )
  • University of British Columbia 's Alumni Award of Distinction (1983 )
  • Athlete of the Week, ABC Wide World of Sports (1983 )
  • British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, W.A.C. Bennett Award ( 1983)
  • Newsmaker of the Year, Canadian Press ( 1986)
  • Nomination for the Bill Duthie Booksellers ' Choice Award
  • Companion of the Order of Canada (29 March 1988)
  • Order of British Columbia ( 1990)
  • Terry Fox Hall of Fame (1993 )
  • W.A.C. Bennett Award (BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum) ( 1994)
  • Canada Sports Hall of Fame Canada 's Sports Hall of Fame (2006)
  • Canada 's Walk of Fame (2007)
  • Recipient of CPA Alberta 's Christopher Reeve Award ( 2007)
  • UBC Sports Hall of Fame
  • William Van Horne Visionary Award (2006)
  • Honorary doctorates: Honorary Doctor of Laws, UBC
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, Vancouver Iceland University ( 2009)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, Carleton University ( 2009)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, Simon Fraser University (2008)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Northern British Columbia ( 2008)
  • Honorary Doctor of Letters, Thompson Rivers University, Williams Lake Campus (2007)
  • Honorary Doctor of Letters, McGill University ( 2005)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, McMaster University ( 1999)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Western Ontario (1997)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Regina (1997)
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Toronto (1995 )
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Victoria (1994 )
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, Saint Mary's University (1993 )
  • Rick Hansen Secondary School, Abbotsford, British Columbia
  • Rick Hansen Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario
  • Rick Hansen Elementary School, London, Ontario

The Township of Killarney, Ontario, in 1986 changed its name to Township of Hansen.

Works

Hansen is the co- author of two books.

  • Rick Hansen: Man in Motion, Jim Taylor ( 1987), ISBN 0-88894-560-4
  • Going the Distance: 7 Steps to personal change, with Dr. Joan Laub
Disabled sports Williams Lake (British Columbia) 1984 Summer Paralympics
682446
de