When she's racing, Chantal Petitclerc's focus is always on winning. Becoming a role model for other athletes with disabilities is just part of the prize.
"I've never seen myself as someone being on a mission," the wheelchair racer says. "I've always seen myself as an athlete trying to go fast and win a race.
"I see that there are positive effects of that. I recognize that and I'm really happy for that."
Petitclerc, 39, who won five gold medals and set three world records while competing in her final Paralympic Games this summer in Beijing, has been voted The Canadian Press female athlete of the year. She becomes the first Paralympian to receive the award since it was created in 1933.
"It's the conclusion of a season and a year that has been amazing to me, really magic," said Petitclerc. "It seems like it keeps rolling with good news for me.
"I think it's significant for me as an athlete but even more so, it's significant for my sport. That's what makes me the most happy."
The male athlete of the year will be announced Sunday while the top team of 2008 will be revealed Monday.
Petitclerc, who has won 21 medals over a span of five Paralympics, finished first in a survey of sports editors and broadcasters across the country to capture the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award.
The Montreal resident received 220 points and 64 first-place votes, edging out wrestler Carol Huynh, who collected 115 points after winning a gold medal in wrestling at the Summer Olympics. Other candidates were diver Emilie Heymans, a silver medallist in Beijing who received 59 points, and Karen Cockburn, a silver medallist in trampoline at the Games, who collected 47 points.
Recent winners include hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, speedskaters Cindy Klassen and Catriona Le May Doan, and track star Perdita Felicien.
The award is named for Bobbie Rosenfeld, voted Canada's female athlete of the first half-century in 1950.
On the track, the muscular Petitclerc is a machine. In Beijing she beat competitors 16 years her junior.
"Those Games were my best ever and the most challenging," said Petitclerc, who is unbeaten in 10 consecutive Paralympic races dating back to 2004 in Athens. "The field, the calibre (of athletes) was higher than ever before. My schedule was crazy."
On one night in Beijing she won two races, setting world records in each, in a span of 90 minutes.
The medal Petitclerc is most proud of is the 800 metres, which she won in world record time. Petitclerc, along with coach Peter Eriksson, devised a "kamikaze strategy" for the race.
Instead of playing it safe, Petitclerc broke from the pack almost from the start of the race. She used her strength to open up a lead that none of the other racers could cut into.
"I was very proud of that," she laughed. "I didn't play it safe. I was going for five gold. This was taking a big chance.
"To be able to decide it, and do it with 100 per cent commitment, and break the world record, that was the most amazing feeling."
Petitclerc can be a menacing opponent but is considered a hero by many of the other racers.
"She's a big inspiration for me," Britain's Shelly Woods said in an interview following Petitclerc's final race in China. "She's one of my heroines.
"Racing her you want to get tough and beat her, but at the same time you are in awe of her."
Many of the voters agreed.
"It's a shame we haven't resolved to marry the Olympics and the Paralympics so greatness such as she has repeatedly demonstrated would be much more widely celebrated," said Phil Andrews of the Guelph Mercury.
Jim Christie of the Globe and Mail said Petitclerc's achievements transcend sport.
"It's not just that she beat other wheelchair athletes, it's that she pushed herself to beat the best she'd ever done and did it on the biggest stage available to her," Christie said. "She's been the icon . . . that people with disabilities don't have to be in the margins of society."
With her Paralympic career finished, Petitclerc has shifted her focus to marathon racing. She will concentrate on 10-kilometre events and half-marathons this year. By 2010 she hopes to challenge for victories at the New York, Boston and Berlin marathons.
Once she retires, Petitclerc plans to remain involved with Paralympic sports.
"Coaching is an option," she said. "I think there is a lot to do about development for kids.
"It's hard to know where the kids are and how to reach them and how to provide them with equipment."
Petitclerc, who raced in the T54 class for wheelchair athletes with different levels of spinal cord injuries and amputations, was born in Saint-Marc-des-Carrieres, Que. She was 13 when she lost the use of her legs after a barn door fell on her.
Just two months after the accident she was swimming. At age 18 she was introduced to wheelchair sports. She used a homemade wheelchair in her first competitive race and finished last.
Her first Paralympic Games was in Barcelona in 1992, where she won two bronze medals. During her career she has won 14 gold, five silver and two bronze Paralympic medals.
Petitclerc rarely spends time thinking about what her life would have been like if she hadn't lost the use of her legs.
"I know some people say your accident made you stronger, it was a good thing because it made you this champion," she said. "I prefer to think I had this personality and I had this strength. That's why I was able to bounce (back) from this accident.
"There is no way to know what would have happened with my life. I like to think I would have had a great life and I would have achieved my dreams even if I didn't have the accident. Right now this is the life I want. I wouldn't change it for anything."
