Margaret Beaudoin
"Being a Brand Ambassador is about building bridges and relationships. Because so many people helped me along my journey, I am dedicated to supporting younger athletes." – Move United Brand Ambassador Margaret Beaudoin
Beaudoin is a Team USA para track and field athlete specializing in shot put and discus. She has competed at the World Cerebral Palsy Games, the Para Pan American Games, and the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials.
Beaudoin, who has cerebral palsy, started running with a school club in first grade. In fourth grade, she joined her school's competitive cross country and track teams. That led to her first para competition, the Thunder in the Valley Games in Saginaw, Michigan. There, Kelly Behlmann of DASA taught her shot put, discus, and javelin on the spot, and Beaudoin qualified for the National Junior Disability Championships (NJDC) that same day.
At her first NJDC in 2011, coaches and older athletes welcomed her, giving her a deep sense of belonging. Over the years, she has also taken part in para swimming, para air rifle, adaptive water skiing, adaptive kayaking, and adaptive snow skiing. Throwing, however, has always been her main passion. At Berkley High School (MI), she competed on the varsity track and field and varsity swim teams and was named Field Athlete of the Year.
Beaudoin has medaled at The Hartford Nationals and NJDC nearly every year since 2011. She won bronze in shot put and discus at the 2018 World CP Games in Sant Cugat, Spain, and represented Team USA at the 2023 Para Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She is also a medalist at the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field National Championships and Team Trials, and won gold in shot put at the 2026 WPA Grand Prix in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Her honors include the 2024 Hartford Human Achievement Award, the 2021 Move United Spirit of Excellence Award, and 2023 Michigan BOOM Awards Athlete of the Year.
Coach Darla Clayton and the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA) shaped her journey. At GLASA, coaches Cindy and Randy Housner have been role models and champions for inclusion.
Beaudoin now pays that support forward. She has helped colleges across Michigan integrate para athletes into their track meets. She has also supported statewide para track and field through I Am An Athlete Too, is assisting with Mary Free Bed Hospital's new adaptive track program, and helped host a para track clinic in Mobile, Alabama. Some of the young athletes she met while presenting at family conferences in 2014 and 2016 still compete at The Hartford Nationals today.
As a Move United Brand Ambassador, Beaudoin will keep welcoming new athletes into para sport, making sure each one feels the same sense of belonging she found.
Sports
- Track and Field
