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Stefanie Reid: UK Paralympic silver and bronze medallist.
With the phenomenal worldwide success of the Paralympic Games in London 2012, the names of the great Paralympians have come to the fore. Great Britain’s Stefanie ‘Stef’ Reid is one of those great athletes.
Competing for Great Britain in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump, Stef won silver in the Long Jump. This was despite having the longest jump. Stef’s father is Scottish and at the Glasgow Grand Prix she set a world record in her class while trying to qualify for Scotland in Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games. She won silver in Rio in 2016 and Gold at the World Championships in 2017 in London.
It was in 2008 that Stefanie Reid competed in the Paralympics for Canada and won a bronze medal in the women’s T44 200m. Switching allegiance, Stef began competing for Great Britain in 2010 and broke 3 World records in the space of 2 months. Stef had a very successful games as Britain’s only female amputee sprinter and broke the Long Jump Paralympic record for the F44 class with a distance of 5.28m to win a Silver medal.
Background:
Born in New Zealand to a Scottish father and an English mother, Stef and her family moved to Toronto, Canada when she was four. Stef lost her right foot in a boating accident, aged 16. Her life was saved by a surgeon in Toronto who managed to stem the blood flow through amputation. Sports loving before the accident, she played rugby union, but encountered difficulties post her amputation with referees who felt the artificial leg could injure other players. Deciding to concentrate on her studies, she gained a full scholarship to Queen’s University to study biochemistry. After joining the campus track and field team, three years later she competed at the BT Paralympic World Cup in 2008.
Three Country Representation:
With the option to compete for three countries – based on her place of birth, the nationality of her parents and her place of residence – she formerly represented Canada in the Beijing Paralympic Games, finishing third in the 200m and fifth in the long jump. Stef took the decision to compete for Great Britain soon after the Paralympics in 2008. It wasn’t an easy choice but one that has been vindicated with some impressive results and a Silver medal at London 2012. She spent a year out of competition in 2009 in order to complete her switch and has fully embraced British life, training at Lee Valley athletics centre in North London. Stef is now based in Loughborough in England.
Away from the track Stefanie Reid is an academic scholar and has a degree in Biochemistry. She also completed a Masters in Nutrition, an area she hoped to work in when she finished competing. However her passion for athletics often sees her commentating at athletic events all over the world. She commentated at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. More recently in 2023 she reported and commentated from Chile at the Pan American Games.
Stef was also the face of Channel 4’s Paralympic coverage and gained notoriety for completing a stunt jump over a car in the opening credits.
Stefanie Reid’s incredible story, her grit and determination, and her ability to succeed at the highest level makes her an inspiration to others and a very successful motivational speaker.
