Medal Winner, United States Paralympic Ski Team, Vail, Colorado

Sandy Dukat has competed against able-bodied athletes her whole life even though she only has one leg.  However, a whole new world opened up for her when she discovered disabled sports.

Dukat was born with a limb deficiency in her right foot.  When she was four years old, her leg was amputated above the knee.  Still, she played, basketball, baseball and high-jumped in high school.  Dukat worked as an Information Specialist before devoting her efforts to full-time training at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.  She also helped to coordinate a national database related to physical activity and disability.

Dukat joined the swim team at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in 1996 and before long was swimming with the U.S. Disabled Swim Team, setting an American record in the 800-meter freestyle at the 1998 Disabled Swimming World Championships, and was elected co-captain of the team.  A 1997 trip to The Hartford Ski Spectacular, the nation's largest ski event for people with disabilities, sparked Sandy's interest in winter sports.

Joining the U.S. Disabled Ski Team in 2000, Dukat captured two bronze medals while competing in four Alpine events.  She had an excellent World Cup season in 2003-2004, finishing with 12 podium appearances and fifth in the overall World Cup Points race.  At the 2004 World Championships in Austria, Dukat skied her way to three bronze medals.  She won her first gold medal at the North American World Cup in 2005 and captured the bronze in the slalom at the 2006 Paralympic Games in Torino, Italy. 

Dukat opened the 2007 season with a riddling of podium finishes grabbing two from the Hartford Ski Spectacular and three from the Huntsman Cup before adding another World Cup podium to her files with a second in slalom during the 2007 Aspen World Cup.  In July, 2007, Sandy retired from competition.

But not one to sit idle, Dukat teamed with four other women with disabilities to climb Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro in September, 2007.  The journey, dubbed Disabilities Without Boundaries, was designed to raise awareness of female athletes with disabilities.  Dukat aspires to run a half Ironman as well as the Chicago Marathon some day.

A 1994 graduate of Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, Dukat currently resides in Vail.

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