Cheri Madsen

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, Mario Becerra III, and father, Mario Becerra Sr., were killed in a car-train crash. Madsen returned to competitions in 2013 to honor her brother. She qualified for the 2013 IPC World Championships, 2015 Parapan American Games and 2016 Rio Paralympics, medaling on all occasions.