• Source: Edward Maalouf

      • Edward Maalouf (born December 11, 1968, in Hadath, Beqaa Valley, Lebanon) is a Lebanese competitive handcyclist. He is the first and only person to have won medals for Lebanon at the Paralympic Games.
      In 1995 while at work, he fell from the sixth floor of a building in Beyrouth, and was left paraplegic.. Two years later, he began to train in disability sports.


      Major Results


      In 2006, he won the handcycle marathon in New York City.
      In 2007, he won a silver medal in the disability cycling world championships in Bordeaux. Later that same year, he won the European Handbike Circuit as well as the Beyrouth Handcycle Marathon.
      In 2008, Maalouf both won the International Handcycle Marathon.
      In the 2009, he competed at the International Handcycle Marathon where a striking event took place. During the race, one of his tires was ruptured, and he had to spend roughly two minutes replacing it. Despite this obstacle, Maalouf managed to earn third place.


      2008 Beijing Olympics


      At the Paralympic Games in Beijing, he earned 2 bronze medals. He was Lebanon's sole representative at the Beijing Games and was his country's flag bearer during the opening ceremony.
      To prepare himself, Maalouf underwent intensive training in the Netherlands, and was accompanied by two Dutch coaches in Beijing.
      He competed in two events: the time trial and the road race, both in category HC B - B being "for athletes with complete loss of lower limb function and limited trunk stability". In the time trial, he was one of fifteen competitors, and finished third with a time of 22:12.91 - 0.85 seconds behind Vittorio Podesta of Italy. Heinz Frei of Switzerland won gold in 22:06.23. Maalouf had thus won his country's first Paralympic medal. In the road race, he was again one of fifteen competitors, and again won the bronze medal. His time of 1:28:26 was just one second behind Heinz Frei's winning time (1:28:25), and was identical (within a second) to that of silver medalist Max Weber of Germany.
      Maalouf later said that he had been exhausted during the second race. He went "straight to the hospital" afterwards, and was diagnosed with a blood infection. He then spent four months in hospital. After the games, he also stated that he had received very little support from the Lebanese authorities. He said that they had provided him only with plane tickets and a tracksuit, and he had received no official recognition after his performance, other than congratulations from the Lebanese ambassador to China.


      2012 London Olympics


      He competed again as Lebanon's sole representative at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, taking part in two road cycling events. In the men's road race H2, he was lapped and eliminated. In the men's time trial H2, he finished ninth of fourteen, in 30:01.34.


      See also


      Lebanon at the Paralympics


      External links


      Official website


      References

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