Sandra Laoura is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 freestyle skier of Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n origin who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Laoura won bronze in the women's moguls event.

On January 5, 2007, during a training session for a World Cup event at Mont Gabriel (Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

), she landed on her head and fractured two thoracic vertebrae. She underwent surgical intervention aiming to repair the fractured vertebrae, but lost the use of her legs. She traveled to both Portugal and Russia for intensive rehabilitation therapy.