Felicia Voss-Shafiq has helped Canada make history at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
Voss-Shafiq and the Canadian women's sitting volleyball team earned bronze on Saturday, Sept. 7, defeating Brazil in three sets to claim the program's first-ever Paralympic medal.
In her third Paralympic appearance, the 44-year-old contributed 14 points throughout the tournament.
Canada faced off against Brazil in the preliminary round, but lost 3-1.
But Canada defeated Slovenia (3-0) and Rwanda (3-0) to advance to the semifinals against the People's Republic of China.
The red and white lost in straight sets (3-0) which set up a meeting with Brazil for the bronze medal.
It was a different story the second time around, with Canada winning the first set 25-15 and the second and third sets 25-18.
Voss-Shafiq has also been a part of the 2015 Parapan Am Games team (bronze), 2018 World Championship team (seventh place), 2019 Parapan Am Games (bronze) and the 2022 World Championship team (silver).
She has been a member of the women's sitting volleyball team since 2015.
In 2011, a bad case of pneumonia sent her into septic shock and threatened to end not just her volleyball career but her life.
She woke up after a two-week coma with her hands and feet bandaged.
Her hands would recover but not her feet, and both her legs were amputated below the knee.
“This sport has saved me in so many ways,” she told the NOW in 2021.
“It allowed me to achieve my goals of being healthy and active; it gave me another network of support when I needed it – this is support from women, strong, amazing women, who’ve gone through something similar, who’ve gone through adversity, who’ve evolved through adversity. It gave me back the sport that I loved.”
With files from Cornelia Naylor, Burnaby NOW
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