Tatyana McFadden

Tatyana McFadden was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1989 with spina bifida and spent the first six years of her life in an orphanage before being adopted by Deborah McFadden and coming to the United States, where she received medical care and early rehabilitation services that shaped her future athletic path. McFadden attended the University of Illinois on a wheelchair basketball scholarship and later focused on track and wheelchair racing; she developed into a national team athlete in the early 2000s and made her Paralympic debut at Athens 2004. Over the following two decades, McFadden became one of the most decorated wheelchair racers in history, winning multiple Paralympic medals across several Games and achieving historic wins in major city marathons (including Boston, Chicago, London, New York and others), and becoming the first person to win the four major marathons in the same year (2013). Off the course, McFadden founded the Tatyana McFadden Foundation to provide racing chairs and resources for youth with disabilities, has co-authored a children’s book, and taken part in media projects highlighting Paralympic sport and disability inclusion.