Travis Gaertner
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Canada 
United StatesKitchener, Ontario, Canada
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Canada United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | January 16, 1980 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | 2003, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | gaertnergold | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Travis Gaertner (born January 16, 1980) is a Canadian-American actuary. He previously competed with Team Canada in the Paralympic Games in wheelchair basketball, where he won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Paralympics and the 2004 Summer Paralympics.
Gaertner was born on January 16, 1980, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada to parents Diana and Jonathan.[1] He was born with a congenital disease causing him to be born without a left and half a right leg.[2] Until he was in fifth grade, Gaertner used a prosthetic leg but eventually switched to a wheelchair for better mobility.[3] When Gaertner was twelve years old, Jonathan died of cancer and he decided to take up wheelchair basketball.[4] By Grade 6, he qualified for the Manitoba Ramblers of the Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association, and later joined the Manitoba senior wheelchair team. His play caught the attention of a Canadian coach who invited him to try out for the Canadian Paralympic team.[3]
