Ilse Hayes

Ilse Hayes (born 30 August 1985), also known as Ilse Carstens, is a Paralympian athlete from South Africa competing mainly in category T13 sprint events. Hayes has competed for her country at four Summer Paralympics beginning with the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. She has won medals at each of the four games including two gold medals, both in the long jump, at Beijing and London (2012). As well as her Paralympic success Hayes is a multiple medal winner at World Championship level.

Personal history Hayes was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1985. At the age of eleven she was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited form of juvenile macular degeneration, which causes progressive loss of vision. She was educated at the University of Stellenbosch, where she studied sports science and pediatrics. She is married to Cassie Carstens and they reside in Stellenbosch.

Athletics career Hayes broke onto the international sporting stage when she entered the 2002 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lille, France. She entered three events in the T13 category, winning gold in the 400 metres sprint and a bronze in the 100 metres. She also entered the long jump, but her best distance of 4.93 saw her fall just outside the medal positions in fourth. Hayes also took home a silver medal from Beijing from the 100 metre sprint. She also added the T13 100 metres silver medal at London.

In 2013 Hayes was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (silver) by president Jacob Zuma; for Her courageous and relentless pursuit of excellence and incredible physical endurance. In the run up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Hayes took part in two more IPC World Championships. She won a total of four medals, gold in the long jump and silver in the 100 metres in Lyon in 2013 and double gold in the 100 and 200 metre sprints in the 2015 in Doha. Hayes was unable to attempt a second defence of her long jump title, after the T13 event was removed from the schedule for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Despite this set back she won two silver medals, in the 100 and 200 metre T13 sprints.