Peter Genyn

Started: He took up wheelchair rugby in 1993 and switched to Para athletics in 2013. (Athlete, 19 Aug 2018, 23 Oct 2015) Reason: His parents encouraged him to remain involved in sports after his injury. He played wheelchair rugby but had to stop after he broke his leg. He then began focusing on athletics. "I was always the fastest in rugby, so sprinting was a good alternative." (blog.arjo.be, 28 Aug 2020; itmove.be, 01 Jan 2016; Athlete, 23 Oct 2015) Ambition: To win a medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (proximus.be, 17 Jul 2023) Awards: In 2022 he was named an Honorary Citizen of the municipality of Kalmthout in Belgium. (wapper.be, 21 Nov 2022) In 2017 and 2018 he was named Paralympic Athlete of the Year at the Sports Gala in Belgium. (rtbf.be, 22 Dec 2018; gva.be, 20 Dec 2017; Twitter profile, 17 Dec 2017) He received the 2016 Paralympic Athlete of the Year award in Brasschaat, Belgium, as well as the 2016 Trofee Victor Boin [Victor Boin Trophy]. (hln.be, 30 Mar 2017; sporza.be, 13 Jan 2017) He was flag bearer for Belgium at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (sporza.be, 19 Sep 2016) He was named the 2014 G-Athlete of the Year at the Antwerp Provincial Sports Awards in Belgium. (gva.be, 18 Dec 2014) He was named the Top 1.5 Player at the 2013 Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in Denmark. (paralympic.org, 2013) Additional Info: BOOK In 2022 he published his autobiography. "I want to show that Paralympians also have to live and work like top athletes if they want to be at the top. Just like with non-Para athletes, there is no compassion in our field of participants. On the contrary. We all want that gold medal, that title, that world record. An equally hard battle. As Paralympians, we all carry our history and we take it with us into our top sporting lives. In my opinion, this makes our path to the top even more fascinating and challenging than that of a non-Para top athlete." (Instagram profile, 18 Dec 2022; boeken.cafe, 01 Jan 2022)