Rick Hansen

Biography

Richard Marvin Hansen CC OBC (born August 26, 1957) is a Canadian track and field athlete (Paralympic Games and Olympic Games), activist, and philanthropist for people with disabilities. When Rick was 15, he was riding in the back of a pickup truck after a fishing trip with his friend, when the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over. Hansen was trapped on the inside of the roll and thrown to the ground, along with the equipment from the truck. As a result of the crash, Hansen broke his back, sustained a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed from the waist down. Hansen is most famous for his Man In Motion World Tour, in which he circled the globe in a wheelchair to demonstrate the potential of people with disabilities if barriers were removed and to raise money to support the removal of additional barriers for people with disabilities in the future. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He was one of the final torchbearers in the 1988 and the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was profiled and spoke during the 2010 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony. CTV News Special: Rick Hansen: Unbreakable 50 Years Later aired on Dec 2, 2023 featuring interviews with Hansen and Sandie Rinaldo, along with exclusive footage of Hansen returning to the site of the accident in Williams Lake for the first time. The event marked 50 years since he sustained his spinal cord injury.