Candace Cable

{{Infobox sportsperson

| birth_date = {{Birth-date and age|July 15, 1954}}

| birth_place = Glendale, California, U.S.

| headercolor = lightsteelblue

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }}

{{MedalGold | 1992 Madrid | {{nowrap|4×100 m relay TW3–4}}}}

{{MedalBronze | 1992 Tignes/Albertville | {{nowrap|Giant slalom LW10-11}}}}

}}

Candace Cable (born July 15, 1954){{cite web |url=https://usopm.org/candace-cable/ |title=Candace Cable |website=usopm.org |date=September 23, 2019 |publisher=U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum |access-date=February 24, 2022}} is a nine-time Paralympian. She was the first woman to medal in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games.{{cite web |title=Athlete Spotlight - Candace Cable - Global Sports Development |url=http://globalsportsdevelopment.org/athlete-spotlight-candace-cable/ |website=Global Sports Development |accessdate=7 September 2017 |date=7 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908064102/http://globalsportsdevelopment.org/athlete-spotlight-candace-cable/ |archive-date=8 September 2017 |url-status=live}} Cable is also a six-time winner of the Boston Marathon, women's wheelchair division and winner of the first four Los Angeles Marathons.

Biography

Cable was born in Glendale, California. She moved to South Lake Tahoe/Truckee, California after high school,{{cite news |title=A new life: Since losing the use of her legs, Candace Cable has taken her life in a new direction |url=http://www.sierrasun.com/news/sports/a-new-life-since-losing-the-use-of-her-legs-candace-cable-has-taken-her-life-in-a-new-direction/ |accessdate=7 September 2017 |agency=Sierra Sun |first=Erin |last=Roth |date=19 December 2001 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908153610/http://www.sierrasun.com/news/sports/a-new-life-since-losing-the-use-of-her-legs-candace-cable-has-taken-her-life-in-a-new-direction/ |archive-date=8 September 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Hauserman |first1=Tim |title=Advocating for change · Candace Cable |url=http://thetahoeweekly.com/2015/08/advocating-for-change-%C2%B7-candace-cable/ |accessdate=7 September 2017 |agency=The Tahoe Weekly |date=26 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908111800/http://thetahoeweekly.com/2015/08/advocating-for-change-%C2%B7-candace-cable/ |archive-date=8 September 2017 |url-status=live}} lying about her age to get a job in a casino. She was injured in a car accident on the Kingsbury Grade in 1975 at the age of 21. Following the accident, without the use of her legs, she began feeling sorry for herself and became addicted to heroin. At the time she said "A person in a wheelchair is not supposed to have fun or be happy. I'm both. Besides, I get the best parking spaces at shopping centers, and I don't have to wait in line at the movies." She went through drug rehabilitation in 1978.{{Cite magazine |first=Deirdre |last=Donahue |date=June 25, 1984 |url=http://people.com/archive/wheelchair-racers-jim-knaub-and-candace-cable-are-on-a-roll-as-they-push-toward-their-olympic-debut-vol-21-no-25/ |title=Wheelchair Racers Jim Knaub and Candace Cable Are on a Roll as They Push Toward Their Olympic Debut |magazine=People |access-date=2017-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908111451/http://people.com/archive/wheelchair-racers-jim-knaub-and-candace-cable-are-on-a-roll-as-they-push-toward-their-olympic-debut-vol-21-no-25/ |archive-date=2017-09-08 |url-status=live}} She became acquainted with wheelchair sports while attending California State University, Long Beach first trying swimming before finding wheelchair racing could let her work out with able-bodied friends.

{{blockquote|"We're all only non-disabled temporarily. Sooner or later everyone's body breaks down. That puts me ahead of the game because I already know how to live outside of the old order."|}}

After four months of training, Cable participated in the inaugural 1980 World Games for the disabled, 1984 Summer Olympics in wheelchair racing as an exhibition event, as well as the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Summer Paralympic Games, and also five Winter Olympics. Cable won twelve Paralympic medals of which eight were gold medals. She was the first woman to medal in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games.