OTTAWA – Zak Madell, Canada’s super scorer on the national wheelchair rugby team, admits he doesn’t know where to start in his tribute to teammate and recently retired six-time Paralympian Mike Whitehead.
‘’Not only was he a great teammate to all, but he was a force to be reckoned with on the court,” said Madell, himself a four-time Paralympian. ‘’When I first started, he was often the person to turn to if you ever needed a hand with fixing equipment, or needed to borrow a spare part.
‘’The latter happened countless times, and he would always graciously help out.” Whitehead, 49, earned two silver medals and a bronze in six Paralympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024). He was also at six world championships (one gold, one silver and two bronze) and three Parapan Am Games (one gold, two silver).
“It was on my mind, and in my heart for a couple years,’’ said Whitehead, injured in a car crash in 1999 at age 24. “The last few years my body was like ‘hey you know, I’ve been good to you.’ But trying to play with the best in the world for 24 years I started to feel the toll in the later part of my career. I realized there’s pressure and there’s a lot of work.