Cécile Hernandez

Cécile Hernandez is a French para-snowboarder and four-time Paralympic medallist who began her sporting life as a BMX racer in international competition. On 21 October 2002 an attack of multiple sclerosis paralysed her legs for two months, after which she stopped sport, wrote two books for Éditions du Rocher and worked as a journalist for Europe 1 and Le Figaro, including coverage of the 2012 London Paralympics. She tried snowboarding again in the French Alps in 2013 and was picked for the Sochi 2014 Paralympics, where she won silver in snowboard cross. She then won bronze in snowboard cross and silver in banked slalom at PyeongChang 2018, gold at Beijing 2022 and gold at Milano Cortina 2026. At the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships she won the SB-LL1 snowboard cross title and silver in the dual banked slalom, and she was made a knight of the National Order of Merit by President François Hollande in June 2014.