Helen Freeman (basketball)

Helen Freeman (born 23 November 1989) is a 4.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain in five European championships, and at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Helen Freeman
Personal information
Nationality Great Britain
Born (1989-11-23) 23 November 1989
Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportWheelchair basketball
Disability class4.0
Event(s)Women's team
College teamUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
ClubCoyotes
Medal record
Wheelchair basketball
U25 Women's World Championships
Bronze medal – third place2011 St CatherinesWomen's wheelchair basketball
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place2007 Wetzlar, NetherlandsWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2009 Stoke MandevilleWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2011 NazarethWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2013 FrankfurtWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2015 WorcesterWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2017 TenrifeWomen's wheelchair basketball
Women's World Championships
Silver medal – second place2018 HamburgWomen's wheelchair basketball

Biography

Helen Freeman was born in Watford on 23 November 1989.[1] A 4.0 point player, she began playing wheelchair basketball with Aspire Force when she was 12. She played with the national team at the European Championships in Wetzlar, Germany, in 2007, winning bronze. At age 18, she was the youngest player on the side at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. She went on to win bronze medals at the European Championships in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.[2]

She played with the British team that finished sixth at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham. This was the team's best ever finish, but at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto, Canada, they improved to finish fifth. In addition to being the tournament's third highest scorer, she was second in assists per game and sixth in rebounds.[2]

Freeman attended the University of Illinois, where she played on the wheelchair basketball team. She was an Athletic All-American in each of the five years she was there, and an Academic All-American in three of those years.[2] In May 2014 she graduated with a degree in kinesiology, and in August 2015 with a Master of Science degree in Business Administration.[2] In May 2016, she was named as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.[3] The team produced Britain's best ever performance, making it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost to the semi-final to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.[4]

Achievements

References
  1. "Helen Freeman". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  2. "Helen Freeman". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  3. "British women's wheelchair basketball team named for Rio". International Paralympic Committee. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  4. Berkeley, Geoff (17 September 2016). "University of Worcester-based GB women's wheelchair basketball team miss out on bronze medal to dominant Dutch in Rio Paralympics". Worcester News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  5. "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  6. "Helen Freeman". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  7. "NED v GBR". FIBA LiveStats. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
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