Amanda Carter

Amanda Carter

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Carter
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1964-07-16) 16 July 1964 (age 52) Melbourne
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Wheelchair basketball
Disability class	1.0
Event(s)	Women's team
Club	Dandenong Rangers
Medal record Wheelchair basketball Paralympic Games 2000 Sydney Women's wheelchair basketball 2012 London Women's wheelchair basketball Wheelchair Basketball World Championship 1994 Women's wheelchair basketball 1998 Women's wheelchair basketball

Amanda Carter (born 16 July 1964) is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. Diagnosed with transverse myelitis at the age of 24, she began playing wheelchair basketball in 1991 and participated in the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, the Gliders, at three Paralympics from 1992 to 2000. An injury in 2000 forced her to withdraw from the sport, but she came back to the national team in 2009, and was a member of the team that represented Australia and won silver at the 2012 London Paralympics.

Due to her 2000 injury, Carter lost considerable mobility in her right arm, and required an elbow reconstruction. She spent 11 weeks on a continuous passive motion machine, and nine operations were required to treat the elbow. After her comeback in 2008, she played for the Dandenong Rangers in the Australian Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL), the team she had played for before her injury. That year she received a player award from the Dandenong Rangers and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in her 1-point disability classification in the WNWBL and was named to the league's All Star Five. The Rangers won back-to-back WNWBL titles in 2011 and 2012, and she was again named the WNWBL MVP 1 Pointer and to the league's All Star Five in 2012.

Carter was born on 16 July 1964 in Heidelberg, Victoria. She spent her childhood living in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West. She went to Olympic Village Primary School, attended years 7 to 10 at Latrobe High School and years 11 and 12 at Thornbury High School. She then entered LaTrobe University, where she obtained Bachelor of Applied Science and Master of Occupational Therapy degrees. As a youngster, she played netball. In 1989, at the age of 24, she was diagnosed with transverse myelitis after a bout of chicken pox. She works as an occupational therapist and has a son, Alex. As of 2012^[update], she still lives in Heidelberg West.