Nova Scotia athlete hopes to shine at Commonwealth Games this summer

Sport Nova Scotia helps bridge the gap for para-athletes like Chloe Dunbar – who’s chasing her dream all the way to the Commonwealth Games.

Chloe Dunbar has changed her perspective, thanks to sport.

“At nationals two years ago, I was introduced to Marissa Papaconstantinou and Sheriauna Haase, and before then I used to hide my disability,” she said. “I used to hide my arm, and after seeing them and them being proud of who they were, that’s really helped me and changed me as a person.”

Dunbar is 17 years old and was born as a congenital right arm, below the elbow amputee.

“I started off with high school track and field, and I was just at my track one day, and my coach was like, ‘Hey, are you missing your arm?’ And I was like, yeah, I am,” she recalled. “And then he introduced me to para-athletics. And then since then I went to Paris, probably, I think six months later, thankfully, to the Access Nova Scotia, and they were able to get me funding to go for para-athletics and get me classified.”

She was able to do this through the help of Sport Nova Scotia.

“As part of our broader diversity and inclusion accessibility strategy, we identified a very clear gap in those high-performance para-athletes needing to travel across Canada, around the world, sometimes to be classified,” explained Nick Lenehan, lead of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Awareness (EDIA) division of Sport Nova Scotia. “And we then decided to create a fund to address that gap. It wasn’t too much more complicated than that.

“There was a need and we then made it a priority to try to address that need to date.”

So far, they have helped three athletes with funding to get certified, Dunbar included.

The Individual Para Athlete Classification Assistance Program is in place so if a para-athlete is required to travel outside of Nova Scotia to be classified, they could be eligible to receive funding support through this program to subsidize their travel to be classified.

“Every para-athlete needs to get classified. And what that means is you’re getting placed with people who have the same relatively same disability as you,” she said. “So that makes it fair for you to compete. I was able to get direct funding to go to Paris to be able to get classified, which wouldn’t be possible my whole entire journey without that funding.”

Dunbar is now an internationally classified T47 athlete after her competition in France and said she would not have been able to compete at these major international competitions or continue progressing in sport at this level without classification.

She added that classification opened the door for her to race internationally, represent Canada and pursue opportunities she had dreamed about for years.

“We have a lot of athletes of like differing abilities all across the province,” said Lenehan. “And they don’t always get their time to shine. So, it’s a great time to be able to show some focus on these great athletes. Supports families that are out there,” he said of Nova Scotia Access Awareness week.

Dunbar will be competing at the Commonwealth Games this summer, representing her country.

“I’m so excited. It’s an individual sport, but it’s also such a team sport as well,” she said. “And it’s collaborative between able bodied and para. So, I’m really excited for that opportunity.

“It means so much having the support of everyone and always cheering me on when I go places. It just means so much to have them behind my corner.”

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