Angelena Dolezar Angelena Dolezar

Angelena Dolezar has been a member of the women’s national sitting volleyball team since 2015. She won bronze medals at the 2015 and 2019 Parapan American Games.

She competed at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games.  The Rio Games were the first time in history a Canadian sitting volleyball team qualified for the Paralympics. In Tokyo, Canada just missed the podium placing fourth.

At the 2022 World Championships, Dolezar and her teammates reached another milestone with silver

Dolezar was living in Edmonton (where Canada’s women’s sitting volleyball team practices) at the time of her accident and post-recovery in 2013. Through the grapevine, Nicole Ban, current women’s sitting volleyball head coach, heard that Dolezar had been a competitive athlete before her accident. In 2015, Ban reached out to Dolezar, asking if she would be interested in playing sitting volleyball. Dolezar had been missing the team atmosphere that soccer used to provide to her, so she decided to give it a try. She has remained a member of the team since.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Bronze medal at the 2019 and 2015 Parapan Am Games… 2018, 2022 world championship… 2016, 2020 Paralympic Games… Canadian women’s sitting volleyball team member since 2015…

PERSONAL    

In 2013, lost her left leg above the knee in a tubing accident… Was the first person in Canada to receive osteointegration… In 2015, was the first person in Canada to purchase a bionic leg… In 2012, graduated from the University of Alberta with an education degree… In 2010, graduated with a bachelor of science; majoring in biology and minoring in French literature… Teacher in the Edmonton public school board.

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

• 2022 World Championships – 2nd
• 2020 Paralympic Games – 4th
• 2019 Parapan Am Games – 3rd
• 2018 World Championships – 7th
• 2016 Paralympic Games – 7th
• 2015 Parapan Am Games – 3rd