page_title: Cheri Madsen
hierarchical_section_title: Cheri Madsen
caption_attribution_description: Cheri Madsen
context_page_description: Cheri Madsen is an American Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete.
  Madsen is a Native American from the Omaha tribe. She grew up in Nebraska, graduating from Nebraska City High School in 1995. Aged three she lost the use of her legs due to an unknown viral infection in her spine. She took up wheelchair racing in 1994 and two years later qualified for the 1996 Paralympics. There, she competed in four events in classification T53, medaling in each. She participated in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney in the same four events, this time in T54, winning two gold and one silver medal. After that she semi-retired from competitions to build a family – she married Eric Madsen on June 2, 2001 and later gave birth to daughters Reese and Malayna. In 2007 her younger brother and father were killed in a car-train crash. Madsen returned to competitions in 2013 to honor her brother, who was her avid supporter in sport. She qualified for the 2013 IPC World Championships, 2015 Parapan American Games and 2016 Rio Paralympics, medaling on all occasions.
context_section_description: Cheri Madsen (née Becerra; born September 27, 1976) is an American Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete.
  Madsen is a Native American from the Omaha tribe. She grew up in Nebraska, graduating from Nebraska City High School in 1995. Aged three she lost the use of her legs due to an unknown viral infection in her spine. She took up wheelchair racing in 1994 and two years later qualified for the 1996 Paralympics. There, she competed in four events in classification T53, medaling in each. She participated in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney in the same four events, this time in T54, winning two gold and one silver medal. After that she semi-retired from competitions to build a family – she married Eric Madsen on June 2, 2001 and later gave birth to daughters Reese and Malayna. In 2007 her younger brother and father were killed in a car-train crash. Madsen returned to competitions in 2013 to honor her brother, who was her avid supporter in sport. She qualified for the 2013 IPC World Championships, 2015 Parapan American Games and 2016 Rio Paralympics, medaling on all occasions.
caption: Madsen at the 2015 Parapan American Games
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T3i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2016:10:23 11:45:43", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Portrait Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:08:11 19:17:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:08:11 19:17:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "35/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "21008/4679", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "34", "EXIF SubSecTime": "15", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "15", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "15", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1534", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2224", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "97379/17", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "331079/57", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}