Misty Thomas (born 1 July 1964) is a Canadian basketball player.^[1] She competed in the women's tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics,^[2] and became the first Canadian to compete at both the Olympics and the Paralympics.^[3][4]

Biography

Thomas was born in Santa Monica, California, before moving to Windsor when she was five years old.^[5] Thomas took up basketball as a student at Vincent Massey High School, and also became a junior champion in volleyball and badminton.^[5] At school, she was the leading points-scorer, and was part of the team that won the Ontario Basketball Championship in 1980.^[5] Thomas then went to University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV ), where she also became the top scorer for the basketball team.^[5]

Thomas was part of the Canadian team at the 1983 Summer Universiade, the 1984 Summer Olympics, and the 1987 Pan American Games, winning a bronze medal at the latter.^[6] However, in 1985, Thomas suffered an ACL tear, which would require multiple knee operations, and go on to end her career.^[5] Thomas went on to work with the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association,^[7] and played with the national wheelchair team.^[6]

In 2008, Thomas represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, competing in the wheelchair basketball tournament.^[8]

Thomas was inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame in 1997,^[5] and in 1998, became the youngest player to be inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.^[9]