20 Facts About Tina McKenzie

Tina McKenzie was born on 8 June 1974 and is an Australian wheelchair basketball player.

Tina McKenzie participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal; and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal.

Tina McKenzie joined the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, in 1999, and played her first international match at the 2002 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Japan.

Tina McKenzie had a brother who died at the age of 19 in 1997.

Tina McKenzie left home in 1990 at the age of 16, and moved to Melbourne, where she qualified as a hairdresser and beauty therapist.

Tina McKenzie's life was changed that year by a fall from a building in Melbourne which fractured her third and fourth thoracic vertebrae, rendering her an incomplete paraplegic.

Tina McKenzie lay there for forty minutes before someone found her.

Tina McKenzie spent the next four weeks in the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg, and then another two and a half months in the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Kew.

Tina McKenzie was forced to move back in with her parents, where she lived for the next five years, but within a year of her accident, she was managing five hairdressing stores.

Tina McKenzie has a Bachelor of Education degree from Macquarie University, which she attended on an NRMA ParaQuad scholarship.

Tina McKenzie took up wheelchair tennis while in rehabilitation at Royal Talbot.

Tina McKenzie was a three-time All Star Five WNWBL player, in 2004,2006 and 2007.

Tina McKenzie has over 100 international caps with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, generally known as the Gliders.

Tina McKenzie joined the team in 1999, but missed out on selection for the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney.

Tina McKenzie played in a four-game test series in Canberra against the Japan women's national wheelchair basketball team held in March 2002, the first Australian hosted international for the Gliders since the Paralympics.

Tina McKenzie was then selected to play at the 2002World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Japan, winning a bronze medal, and later at the 2006 and 2010 World Championships, where the Gliders finished fourth each time.

Tina McKenzie was selected to represent Australia at the 2009 Four Nations tournament in Canada, one of six players in the side who played for the Dandenong Rangers in the WNWBL.

Tina McKenzie was selected to participate in a national team training camp in 2010, and captained the team at the Osaka Cup and the World Championships that year.

Tina McKenzie was part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, and the bronze medal-winning team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

Tina McKenzie was awarded a silver medal after her team was defeated by Germany in the final.