Marco Dispaltro

Marco Dispaltro has been one of Canada’s top boccia players for many years, competing in three Parapan Am Games (2011, 2015, 2019) and three Paralympic Games (2012, 2016, 2020). He has reached the podium at each of his Parapan Am Games appearances. He won gold in BC4 singles play at the Lima 2019 Games and added a bronze in pairs. He also took silver in pairs at Toronto 2015 and in singles at Guadalajara 2011.

At his third Paralympics at Tokyo 2020, Dispaltro was a member of the mixed pair BC4 with Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu that did not advance to the playoff round.

Dispaltro enjoyed a solid 2022 season culminating with an appearance at the world championships. He went undefeated in the preliminary round to win his pool before being stopped in the round of 16.

He concluded 2022 ranked eighth in the world, the first time he’s cracked the top-10 since 2016.

In 2019, Dispaltro won the gold medal in BC4 singles with a resounding 11-2 victory over Colombia’s Euclides Grisales in the final at the Parapan American Games in Lima. He also added a bronze in the BC4 pairs event with Levine and Ciobanu.

Dispaltro held a No. 1 world ranking in his classification entering the 2015 season.

Dispaltro started his wheelchair sports odyssey in 1993 as a rugby player and played until 2004. From 2001 until 2008, he acted as the high-performance coordinator of the Canadian national wheelchair rugby team. In 2008, he became the head coach for Sweden, leading them to unprecedented heights.

In May 2010, after years of coaxing and hesitation, Dispaltro tried boccia and it was love at first throw. His achievements in boccia include his bronze in pairs with Josh Vander Vies at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.