Three Canadian Paralympians join ‘Team Toyota’ on the road to Paris 2024

TORONTO – Paralympians Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City, Keely Shaw of Midale, Sask., and Marissa Papaconstantinou of Toronto have been announced as members of Team Toyota, part of Toyota’s journey towards next summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

The trio join three Paris 2024 Olympic hopefuls – Damian Warner, Philip Kim, and Tammara Thibeault – who will all share their stories to inspire Canadians and future generation of athletes.

Ouellet, who overcame cancer at age 12, is one of the big stars on the women’s national wheelchair basketball team. She has competed at four Paralympic Games and four Parapan Am Games in the sport. In 2018 she also became one of the world’s few athletes to compete at both the summer and winter Paralympic Games when she made her debut in PyeongChang in Para nordic skiing.

Shaw, who competed at her first world championships in 2018, has rocketed up the international Para cycling ranks both on the road and the track. The 29-year-old, who has partial paralysis on her left side from a horse-riding accident at age 15, won bronze at Tokyo 2020 on the track and was a double medallist at the Para cycling road world championships in 2022.

Papaconstantinou, born without her right foot, is in the prime of her career and a constant threat in the women’s 100-metre sprint in athletics. The 23-year-old, who blazes down the track on a blade runner, won bronze in the 100 at both the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the 2023 world championships earlier this month in Paris.

“We’re thrilled to welcome these six incredible athletes to Team Toyota, who have been breaking barriers and uplifting their communities,” said Cyril Dimitris, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Toyota Canada. 

“Our Team Toyota athletes are remarkable examples of what’s possible through the power of human movement. By sharing their personal stories about what has helped shape them, beyond sport, we hope to encourage and inspire more Canadians to start their own ‘impossible’.”

For more information on Toyota’s partnership with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and their belief that the power of human movement can inspire the seemingly impossible, please click HERE.