Petitclerc has one Paralympic regret

Canadian Chantal Petitclerc was a standout on the track in Beijing but she is leaving China with at least one regret — she didn't have the opportunity to defend her title in the 800-metre wheelchair race (T54) at this summer's Olympics.

Wheelchair events were not included in the Beijing Olympics, though they had been held as demonstration events at every Olympics since 1984.

Just before winning five gold medals at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Petitclerc won the 800 metres at the Olympics. It was one of two wheelchair demonstration events at those Games. (The other was the men's 1,500 metres.)

"I was so convinced I was going to [compete] at the Olympics when I started racing, and now it's been five Games and they take it off the program," she said recently. "They're going backwards.

"The Paralympics is never going to have the same exposure as the Olympics," she said. "It's never going to have the same sponsorship. It's never going to be prime time."

Though she was disappointed, Petitclerc didn't dwell on the setback. She turned her attention to the Beijing Paralympics, which she said would be her last.

Three months before her 39th birthday, the Montreal native won five gold medals in seven days in Beijing, matching her success at the previous Paralympics. She also set three world records, in the 200, 400 and 800 metres.

"The depth of the field has grown," she said after. "To be able to do the same thing I did in Athens… this is the best ever."

Petitclerc's ascent to the top of the world of disabled sports started in 1982 when she lost the use of both legs in an accident.

She took up swimming in high school then turned her attention to wheelchair racing when she was 18. She finished dead last in her first race, competing in a homemade wheelchair, but there was no turning back.

She enrolled at the University of Alberta to train with Peter Eriksson, who remains her coach to this day. Under his guidance, Petitclerc rose through the ranks of international competition.

She went to her first Paralympics in 1992, coming back from Barcelona with two bronze medals.

In the years since she has expanded her Paralympic medal collection to include 14 gold and five silvers.

After some much needed rest and relaxation, Petitclerc will turn her attention to road racing.

"I think leaving the track for the road right now is great because I know that what I have done [on the track] is going to stay in the history of Paralympic sport," she told CBC Newsworld.

Regardless of how she fares on the road, she will always be remembered as one of the best Paralympians in history.

Says Eriksson:  "She took it to a whole different level with her professionalism, with everything she has done and the results she has done."