Cheri Madsen
Competition | 2026
Hometown: Union, Nebraska
Cheri Madsen made history as the first Native American woman to win an Olympic Medal, securing Bronze in the 800m exhibition contest at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Born in Omaha, Nebraska and an enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe, Madsen was paralyzed at age 3 after a viral infection in her spine, and began wheelchair racing as a teenager in 1994. Two years later, she qualified for the 1996 Paralympics.
Madsen participated in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney in four events, this time in T54, winning two gold and one silver medal. After a break to start a family, she returned in 2013, medaling at the 2013 IPC World Championships, 2015 Parapan American Games and 2016 Rio Paralympics, medaling on all occasions
She would win Silver at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and medals at subsequent world championships and added to her achievements with Silver and Bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Her athletic career spans four Paralympic Games (1996, 2000, 2016, and 2020) and includes 10 Paralympic medals, including 2 golds, 5 silvers, and 3 bronzes. Those include:
-1996 Paralympic Games: silver (100 meter, 200-meter), bronze (400-meter, 800 meter)
-2000 Paralympic Games Sydney: gold (100 meter, 400-meter), silver (200-meter)
-2016 Paralympic Games Rio: silver (400 meter)
-2020 Paralympic Games Tokyo: silver (400 meter), bronze (100-meter)
World Championship experience includes four years of participation (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) and 7 medals, including 3 silver and 4 bronze.
Silver – 2015 (200m); 2017 (100m, 200m)
Bronze – 2013 (200m, 400m); 2017 (400m); 2019 (100m)
In 2023, Madsen was inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletes Hall of Fame.
