The long awaited opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France kicks off on August 28th, and Team USA will be representing with 138 athletes. These athletes will represent in all twenty-two of the games’ events. With two of these events even being completely unique to the paralympic games, goalball and boccia.
The Paralympics boasts many accessible variations of the sports that we are used to seeing in the Olympics. Sports like wheelchair rugby and sitting volleyball only allow for a certain type/level of disability, whereas sports like para-athletics allow for many different levels of disability in the many different categories of each event.
Wheelchair rugby is a mixed sport, with varying levels of limb or range of motion impairments being eligible for the sport. Wheelchair rugby consists of athletes who are all given a different classification based on their level of impairment with 0.5 being the most impaired and 3.5 being the least. These classifications are important because the entire team on the court cannot have a combined point total of over 8.0.
Team USA has the most overall medals in the history of the sport at the Paralympics with seven total medals. This year in Paris Team USA was led by Chuck Aoki, a three-time paralympian and the team's co-captain.
This year, Team USA’s mixed rugby team brought home the silver medal. The team dominated their initial pools and the early rounds, beating Canada, Germany and Great Britain. After a close battle in the gold medal game with Japan, the team still managed to bring home an impressive silver medal. This medal cemented the team’s podium spot, as they have had a place on the podium at the last seven paralympics.
But Team USA’s success doesn’t just extend to these Paris Paralympics, it’s gone back almost 50 years. In her breakout Paralympics in 1980 at Arnhem, Trischa Zorn won seven gold medals at just the age of 16. She dominated Paralympic swimming during the ten different Paralympics she competed at.
During these Paralympics she also managed to set eight different world records in her respective events. She holds the record for the most Paralympic medals ever, with 55, and 41 of them are gold medals. For comparison, swimmer Micheal Phelps holds the record for most Olympic medals with 28 medals and 23 gold.
Zorn was born with a genetic eye condition called aniridia that has left her blind since birth. Aniridia is the complete or partial absence of the iris, the colored portion of the eye. Aniridia is a rare disease, it occurs in about 1 in 50,00-100,000 infants. But, despite her eye condition, Zorn continued to fight and has become an inspiration to young paralympic swimmers now. Today, she talks at schools and conferences all over the country about her story.
Zorn isn’t the only one inspiring today's youth; the US men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball team performed in a truly inspiring way. The men's team was able to take the gold medal, and the women brought home the silver medal. The men’s team won in a close game over Great Britain, winning 73-69. The women’s team fought hard but ultimately lost to The Netherlands.The most prolific sport at these games for Team USA was athletics. Of Team USA’s total 105 medals, 38 came from athletics. In the Paralympics, there are 20 classifications of impairment throughout both Track and Field. These classifications cover impairments from intellectual impairments to limb impairments.
One athlete from Team USA who managed to come out victorious was Ezra Frech. Frech competed in three events for Team USA, the high jump, the long jump and the T63 100m. Frech, who is missing his entire right leg, managed to take home gold in the 100m and the high jump, even setting a Paralympic record in the high jump.
The work from athletes like Frech helped push the USA to an impressive total of 105 medals. Team USA placed third in the overall medal count behind first place China and second place Great Britain. Team USA still has the most overall medals in the Summer Paralympics with an insane 2,283 total medals. They have an over 300 medal lead over second place, Great Britain.
Overall, this year's Summer Paralympics was a major success for Team USA. And it was capped off with a gorgeous closing ceremony. After eleven hard days of competition, athletes went through the Stade de France to many thousands of spectators. The competition ended with the flame being blown out, and the torch being ready for the Los Angeles 28’ Games.