Mark Ideson

Mark Ideson
Curler
File:Mark Ideson, Paraolympian, speaking (40635130944) (cropped).jpg Ideson in 2018
Born	(1976-04-10) April 10, 1976 Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada
Paralympic appearances	3 (2014, 2018, 2022)
Medal record File:Wheelchair curling pictogram (Paralympics).svg Wheelchair curling Representing Canada Paralympic Games Gold medal – first place 2014 Sochi Mixed team Bronze medal – third place 2018 PyeongChang Mixed team Bronze medal – third place 2022 Beijing Mixed team World Championships Gold medal – first place 2013 Sochi Mixed team Silver medal – second place 2020 Wetzikon Mixed team Silver medal – second place 2023 Richmond Mixed team Silver medal – second place 2024 Gangneung Mixed Team

Mark Ideson (born April 10, 1976, in Parry Sound, Ontario) is a Canadian wheelchair curler who competed in the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi and won gold. He is married and has two children. He now resides in London, Ontario. In 2007, the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a field near Cambridge, Ontario and he now lives with quadriplegia. He played hockey and golf before he was disabled.

Personal

Ideson is married and has two children, a daughter, Brooklyn, and a son, Myles. He went to the University of Western Ontario. He studied environmental Science there, where he met his future wife, Lara. He was also a former Western Mustangs Cheerleader. After graduating university, he became a helicopter pilot and was introduced to wheelchair curling in 2010 at the age of 33.

Accident

In 2007, during a maintenance flight, his helicopter crashed into a field near Cambridge, Ontario. He broke 29 bones during the process. 500 metres away, Daniel Hermann, an eight-year-old boy saw this and went to his mother to call 9-1-1. The ambulance arrived shortly after within 20 minutes. Ideson said "I had rehearsed for seven years what I was going to say to a kid that essentially saved my life. I could never really put it to words."

External links

• Mark Ideson at World Curling
• Mark Ideson at the International Paralympic Committee
• Mark Ideson at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• Mark Ideson at the Canadian Paralympic Committee
• Mark Ideson at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics (archived)