Javier Reja Muñoz | |
Sport: | Paracanoe Adaptive rowing |
Birth Date: | 20 July 1974 |
Birth Place: | Seville, Spain |
Javier "Javi" Reja Muñoz (born 20 July 1974) is a Spanish Paralympic rower and former paracanoeist. He competed in paracanoe at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and rowing at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. [1]
In 2006, Reja was riding his motorcycle to the Seville airport, he overtook a tractor and skidded along the gravel. He bounced off and got trapped between a tree and the motorbike's engine, his leg injuries were serious and had to undergo several operations along with two months in hospital to recover.[2]
After leaving hospital, he was medically advised to swim and he went on to win medals in the Spanish national swimming championships, as well as swimming, he tried out weightlifting, triathlon and cycling and he won several national cycling medals. Reja took a strong interest in canoeing when he went along the banks of Guadalquivir in 2011, he joined a yacht club in Seville and he won his first international medal at the 2013 Canoe Sprint European Championships in Portugal within a year of training.[3]