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Louzanne is a blind (classification T11) athlete based in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. She is 27 and a residence head working at the University of the Free State whilst she is pursuing her athletic dreams. She has competed in 4 world championships (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) and one Paralympic Games – Rio 2016. She competes in middle to long distances from the 800m up to the marathon. She holds the African record in the marathon and 800m respectively and is the world record holder in the 5000m.
Besides running she enjoys baking, watching movies, walking and hiking, cycling and has recently taken up some artistic hobbies as well. She is fun loving and laughs and talks easily. Her involvement in her society stretches beyond sports and she formed part of the University of the Free State Student Representative Council as a student. She has also been an athlete’s representative on the Free State Academy of Sport’s executive committee, she also does public speaking at events and forms part of a local church band.
She runs to inspire others… “Running provides me with a platform to reach others, to bring hope, to make people realize that anything is possible if you are prepared to work hard for it.”
ABSTRACT:
“Competitive Disability! An Auto-ethnographic Interrogation of Fairness in Para Sports.”
Louzanne Coetzee, Para-athlete.
Paralympics are held in prestige not just for the exceptional sporting achievements it displays, but also for the inspiring imagery it generates. These games are dubbed as “fair” for giving people with disabilities a platform to showcase their sporting excellence. As a Paralympian myself, I interrogate how “fair” are Paralympics? The complex, highly technical and specialized system of disability classification is put in place to make the competition fair for the competitors and for the integrity of the sport. But how are these fairness mechanisms experienced by the athletes? There is growing, though still insufficient literature on the topic. In this presentation, I employ the method best known to anthropologists, auto-ethnographic vignettes, to reflect on my experiences with un/fairness. I drawn on my athletic life, particular incidents, and interactions with other para-athletes. The goal of presenting this first person narrative, while employing critical reflexivity, is to invite you to interrogate with me the concept of “competitive disability”. Ultimately, I complicate the juxtaposition of fairness and disability.
