Netherland's Marlene van Gansewinkel, centre, celebrates with Irmgard Bensusan of Germany, second place, and Canada's Marissa Papaconstantinou, third place, after winning the women's T64 100m final at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

TORONTO — Marissa Papaconstantinou is a world-class athlete but even she has suffered from body-image issues.

That's why the 26-year-old Paralympian from Toronto is striving to be a role model for women, hoping to help them confront their own misconceptions about their bodies. Papaconstantinou said that earlier in her career she had a reckoning with her own body image.

"I always used to think that I had to be the leanest, to be the fastest, and I had to have a cut, six-pack abs, and that would equate to my success in sport, and that was very much tied to body image and femininity and how I viewed myself," she said in a video call with The Canadian Press. "But now I've realized over the years that strong and powerful is what makes me fast, and so that means fuelling my body and giving it what it needs.

"That means having pretty strong back muscles. When I'm wearing a dress sometimes I'm like, 'Whoa, I look really strong in this dress.' That is what makes me fast, but that's also feminine and beautiful, showing up as me in my strong, athletic body."

Papaconstantinou was born without her right foot. She originally played football and basketball before getting fitted with her first running blade when she was 12.

She competes in the 100 and 200 metres in the T64 classification.

Papaconstaninou won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the 100. She's also earned four world championship medals, most recently a bronze in the 100 metres and silver in the 200 metres this year in New Delhi.

She'll be participating in a panel on women's empowerment at Sweat and Tonic, a downtown Toronto gym, on Saturday.

"I would love to be a positive role model for other young girls," said Papaconstantinou. "Saturday is a really great opportunity, and a great example of where we can be in an environment, it's a little bit more of an intimate environment too.

"We'll have these girls come out and participate in workouts and to also be able to talk to them and to understand their journeys, and to really just allow them to feel like they can do anything they put their minds to."

Papaconstantinou said that speaking on the panel is important but the one-on-one conversations with attendees that will follow is where she thinks she'll really make a difference.

"We're just really going to get into topics about body image, what it's like being a woman in sport, and obviously the intersectionality between me being a female with a disability and navigating some of the perceptions and stigmas that I've experienced throughout my life and my journey in sport and how I've attempted and worked toward breaking down some of those barriers," said Papaconstantinou. "We're going to start off with a really great conversation, and hopefully that will get some of the girls inspired, and to get them excited, and to break the ice."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025