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.