My Sportsman Choice: Chantal Petitclerc

By Michael Farber

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The most stunning sporting achievement of 2004 occurred in Athens -- and Michael Phelps was at least seven time zones away through most of it.

Chantal Petitclerc dominated the world in the Olympic city this summer, kicking the butt of all her competitors even though she has not had the use of her legs for 21 years.

You might have caught a glimpse of her on Aug. 22 when the wheelchair athletes were given their two prime-time Olympic minutes. On the night of the men's high jump final and other assorted comings and goings in the quadrennial five-ringed circus, Petitclerc won the women's 800-meter wheelchair race. She was wreathed in an olive branch and serenaded with O Canada that night, a song that was on the Athens playlist during the Games about as often as Pete Seeger makes it onto R&B stations.

But in mid-September after the circus left town and the Paralympics moved into the nearly deserted big top, Petitclerc went crazy. She won the 100, 200, 400 and 1,500-meters to go with her earlier gold medal, setting world bests in the 100, 400 and 1,500. Five-for-five, baby. Theoretically Ichiro Suzuki has a chance to do that 162 games a season, but the 34-year-old Petitclerc has one shot at it every four years. She swept every distance -- sprints, middle, distance -- in the fastest of the three classifications for athletes with spinal cord injuries. Phelps was almost as versatile in his soggy milieu (although he is not daft enough to race past 400 meters) and did Petitclerc one better by winning six golds. But Michael the Magnificent earned his final one by swimming in the preliminaries and then ceding his place to Ian Crocker so his star-crossed teammate would have a chance, essentially adding to his near-record haul by sitting out. Petitclerc, who has 16 Paralympics medals, has won all of her golds sitting down. With her new racing chair, some 4 1/2 pounds lighter than her previous ride, she could be back for more in Beijing.

When Petitclerc was 13 she was playing with friends on a farm some 50 miles west of Quebec City when a barn door fell on her, irreparably damaging her spinal cord. She was not an especially gifted athlete as a child, but years of dedicated training made her one. Of course she did not command the spotlight like Phelps, but for almost a decade she has illuminated a different, less-traveled path with her own beacon.

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2004 Sportsman of the Year winner on FOX on November 28. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.