Background
Elaine Allard was born in Montreal, Quebec on February 25, 1977.
Elaine Allard was born in Montreal, Quebec on February 25, 1977.
She suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident when she was 16. Before her accident she had participated in many sports, most notably swimming and alpine skiing. She works as an account manager at the Royal Bank of Canada.
She speaks English, French and Portuguese, and scuba dives.
In 2003, she scaled Kala Patthar in the Himalayas. Allard took up wheelchair basketball in 1995 as part of her rehabilitation, and within weeks was playing competitively.
She is classified as a 1.5 point player. This was followed by winning silver at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, and then gold at the 2010 British Telecom Paralympic World Cup.
"After becoming a part of the women"s national team program and participating at a few international tournaments," she recalled, "it was clear to me that my goal was to become a part of this amazing team
Ultimately, my goal was to represent Canada at the Paralympic Games." Her dream came true when she represented Canada at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London.