18 Facts About Tatyana McFadden

Tatyana McFadden is an American Paralympic athlete competing in the category T54.

Tatyana McFadden was born in Leningrad, then Soviet Union, on April 21,1989.

Tatyana McFadden was born with spina bifida, a congenital disorder that paralyzed her from the waist down.

Deborah and her partner Bridget O'Shaughnessy adopted Tatyana McFadden and took her to live in Baltimore.

Tatyana McFadden took up a variety of sports while growing up to strengthen her muscles: first swimming, then gymnastics, wheelchair basketball, sled hockey and track and field.

Tatyana McFadden attended the University of Illinois studying for a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, was a member of the Theta chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma, and was on the University of Illinois wheelchair basketball team.

Tatyana McFadden entered the Chicago Marathon in 2009 as a lark.

Tatyana McFadden became the first athlete to win six gold medals at a championships during the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon.

Tatyana McFadden claimed gold in every event from the 100 meters through to the 5,000 meters.

Tatyana McFadden won the Boston, Chicago, London, and New York marathons in 2013.

Tatyana McFadden set a new course record for the Chicago Marathon.

Tatyana McFadden began 2014 by returning to the country of her birth, Russia, to compete in the Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi.

Just over a month after Sochi, Tatyana McFadden returned to wheelchair racing at the London Marathon, where she successfully defended her title in a new course record time.

In 2015 Tatyana McFadden won the NYC marathon, and broke its women's course record by seven minutes and 20 seconds.

Tatyana McFadden competed in separate wheelchair events at high school meets, meaning that she would circle around an otherwise empty track by herself, which embarrassed her.

In 2006, one of her Atholton teammates lost her victory in the 1600 meters at the state championships after Tatyana McFadden was ruled to have been acting as a "pacer" for her, by encouraging her rather than racing on her own.

Tatyana McFadden's lawsuit is credited for the eventual passage of the Maryland Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities Act in 2008, which made Maryland the first state to require schools to provide equal physical education and athletic opportunities for students with disabilities.

Tatyana McFadden was a leader of an ultimately unsuccessful effort against a 2012 Russian law to prohibit adoptions of Russian children by American parents.