Shirley Reilly facts for kids
Reilly beating Wakako Tsuchida to the 2012 Boston Marathon title
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Shirley Reilly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | May 29, 1985 Anchorage, Alaska |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 152 cm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 47 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Medal record
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shirley Reilly, born on May 29, 1985, is an amazing American athlete. She is a wheelchair racer who competes in track races and long-distance marathons. Shirley has proudly represented the United States at the Summer Paralympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012. She is famous for winning the 2012 Boston Marathon wheelchair race.
Contents
Early Life and Challenges
Shirley Reilly was born in Anchorage, Alaska. From birth, she was paralyzed from the waist down because she was born six weeks early. Her early years involved many operations. Around 1997, she had a big surgery where eight spinal discs and two ribs were removed. Despite these challenges, Shirley grew up to be a strong and determined athlete.
Starting Her Racing Career
Shirley moved to California and finished high school in Los Gatos in 2003. While in high school, she loved competitive sports and focused on track athletics. She competed in the 2002 IWAS World Games. Her big dream was to take part in the Summer Paralympics, and she achieved this at the 2004 Athens Games.
Marathon Successes
After the Athens Games, Shirley started focusing more on road races, especially the marathon. In 2005, she finished second in the wheelchair section of the Los Angeles Marathon. The next year, she returned and won the race!
Shirley became a regular and strong competitor at the Boston Marathon. She placed fourth in 2005, then improved to third in 2006, and fifth in 2007. In 2008, she came fourth in the wheelchair race at the Peachtree 10K.
At her second Paralympic appearance in 2008, she competed in the 1500 metres, 5000 metres, and the marathon, where she finished seventh. The next year, she was second at the Gasparilla Distance Classic. She also placed third at both the 2009 Boston Marathon and Grandma's Marathon. In November, she raced in the New York City Marathon for the first time and took seventh place.
Winning the Boston Marathon
In 2010, Shirley finished fourth at the 2010 Boston Marathon. She set a personal best time of 1 hour, 41 minutes, and 1 second at the 2011 race, finishing second behind Wakako Tsuchida. Shirley also represented the United States at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships.
A big moment came in 2012 when Shirley defeated Wakako Tsuchida at the 2012 Boston Marathon. She won the race by just one second, setting her best time of 1 hour, 37 minutes, and 36 seconds. Later that month, she raced in the London Marathon for the first time and finished fourth.
Personal Life
Shirley Reilly is part of the Iñupiat heritage, an Indigenous group from Alaska.
