Donna Ritchie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australia Ritchie celebrates with her silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 28 December 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Donna Ritchie (born 28 December 1963 in Manly, New South Wales[1] is an Australian former wheelchair basketball player. She was part of the silver medal-winning Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team[2] at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.[3]
Richie was born on 28 December 1963 in Manly, New South Wales. Her parents were Ray and Georgina with siblings Sharon and Raymond. Her father, Ray, played first-grade rugby league for the Manly Sea Eagles and served as the team's first-grade coach from 1981 to 1982.[4] At the age of 23, Ritchie broke the T5 and T6 vertebrae in her spine after falling backwards from a stone wall at Manly Beach.[5]
During the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, she met Dutch wheelchair basketballer Koen Jansens.[5] They married in 1999 and have a son and a daughter.[5]
"Paralympians don't have the time to worry about what doesn't work, they maximise what does!'”
In the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, Ritchie served as the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee's Community Relations Manager.[7] She has been a board member of the New South Wales Institute of Sport since December 1995.[8][9] As of 2015, she was the general manager of Investment at Telstra Business and continued to serve as a New South Wales Institute of Sport board member.[8]
Basketball career
Whilst recovering from her accident in hospital, Ritchie saw wheelchair basketballers training and this led to her taking up the sport.[5] Her wheelchair basketball classification was 1.5 points.[1] She attended three Paralympics Games—1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney.[1] The Gliders—national women's basketball team—came fourth in 1992 and 1996, and won the silver medal in 2000.[1] Ritchie served as vice-captain at the 1992 Games and captain at both the 1996 and 2000 Games.
Ritchie was a member of the Gliders at three World Championships—1990, 1994 and 1998. The Gliders won the bronze medal in 1994 and 1998.[10]