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Cameron Rahles-Rahbula
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Discipline: Para Alpine Paralympic Participation: Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 Cameron was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer at the age of 12 and after unsuccessful chemotherapy had his left leg amputated above the knee at the age of 14. He attended a weekend ski camp at Mount Buller organised by Challenge, a children's cancer support network two weeks after his amputation. Within three days, he was able to ski by himself and this was the start of his Paralympic skiing career. Cameron’s major success was 2nd place in the giant slalom at the 2001 National Championships at Mount Hotham. He competed at the 2002 Winter Paralympics in four LW2 men's events – downhill (9th), slalom (17th), giant slalom (did not finish) and super-G (did not finish). At the 2004 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Wildschönau, Austria, Cameron won two gold medals in the super-G and downhill and silver medal in the slalom. At the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino, he competed in four standing events, coming 14th in the slalom and did not finish in the downhill, giant slalom and super-G. At the 2009 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships at High Resort 1 in Jeongseon County, Korea, he won a gold medal in the men's slalom standing and a bronze medal in the men's giant slalom standing At the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, Cameron won bronze medals in the men's slalom standing event and the men's super combined standing event. He finished 4th in the downhill, 6th in the giant slalom and 5th in the super-G. He was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He competed in three events at the 2011 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Sestriere, Italy, but did not win any medals. The IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Thredbo, New South Wales in September 2013 was intended to be his last competition due to the desire to spend more time with his family. At this event, he won a gold medal in the slalom and silver in giant slalom.[11] In December 2013, he announced that he would aim to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi. His return to competitive skiing with the support of his wife Emily was subject to his training program allowing for more family time. He was named as the Australian flag bearer at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony. Less than a day after being named as flag bearer, he had training accident, fracturing his knee and injuring ankle. He was not able to compete in any of his events. He played an important role in supporting the Australian Team during the Games, and announced that he was retiring. |
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