Personal

Her family includes her Wife Freda Routt, mom, twin sister, older sister and dogs Sandy Fay and Shelly Ray...Enjoys fencing, shuffleboard, making movies, creating glass mosaics, crafts, dancing and visiting with friends...Her favorite Fencing memory is winning her first NAC medal and the opening ceremony at the World Games in Sharjah...Something people would be surprised to know about her is that she was selected to carry the Olympic torch for the Olympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2002... Before Hayes became a fencer, she was a special education teacher helping preschoolers learn motor skills and independency...Served in the U.S. military as a heavy equipment operator...In 2011, she was diagnosed with primary cerebellar degeneration, an incurable but treatable neurological disease...The nerve cells deteriorated and died in her cerebellum, the area of the brain that controls coordination and balance, resulting in her being paralyzed from the waist down...After her diagnosis, Hayes went to a sports camp for disabled women and fell in love with sports in her desire to maintain her freedom...Fencing was a good fit because she could participate in a wheelchair with one arm, since one of her arms is weaker than the other.

Paralympic Experience

1-time Paralympian;

Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, 7th (Team Epee - Women), 8th (Team Foil - Women), 12th (Individual Sabre B - Women), 14th (Individual Epee B - Women)

World Championships Experience

Most recent: 2019 – 9th (Team Sabre - Women), 22th (Individual Sabre B - Women), 25th (Individual Foil B - Women), 29th (Individual Epee B - Women)
Years of participation: Individual Epee B - Women 2019; Individual Foil B - Women 2019; Individual Sabre B - Women 2019; Team Sabre - Women 2019
Top finish: 9th – 2019 (Team Sabre - Women)

Athlete Bio

Age

Hometown

Education

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Event Schedule

2024 Paralympic Games - Wheelchair Fencing