Paralympics 2020 The world's fastest blind man to a TikTok superstar: 10 US Paralympians to Watch
As the rescheduled Tokyo Paralympics kick off, here’s a look at 10 athletes from Team USA worth keeping an eye on
Scout Bassett, Para-athletics
Abandoned as an infant after losing her right leg in a chemical fire, Bassett spent seven years in a government-run orphanage in Nanjing, China, where she was given a makeshift prosthetic leg pieced together with tape and belts until she was adopted by an American couple from Michigan. Since nearly quitting track and field following a last-place finish in the 100m at the 2012 US national championships, she’s since captured world championship medals in both the 100m and the long jump.
David Brown, Para-athletics
The world’s fastest blind man will look to defend his Paralympic 100m title in the T11 category – where athletes are nearly or totally blind and require a guide to race – five years after his Rio coronation alongside former Olympic hopeful Jerome Avery. Diagnosed with Kawasaki disease at 15 months and blind in both eyes due to resulting glaucoma by the age of 13, he remains the only totally blind sprinter to have broken the 11-second mark.
Jessica Long, Para-swimming
A double amputee since she was 18 months old, Long became an overnight star at the 2004 Athens Games when she won three golds at the age of 12. She’s since piled up 23 career Paralympic medals, including 13 golds, making her the second most decorated US Paralympian ever behind fellow swimmer Trischa Zorn (55). And she’s showing no sign of slowing down, saying in a recent Reddit AMA that she hopes to compete until LA 2028. The 29-year-old Long, who was adopted from a Siberian orphanage aged 13 months, gained a huge new audience when her early life story was used in a one-minute Super Bowl commercial for Toyota this year.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/24/usa-paralympian-athletes-to-watch-tokyo-paralympics
____________________________________________________________________________________
I enjoy the Paralympics almost more than the Olympics (I'm also a Special Olympics mom)
= new reply since forum marked as read
