Willpower team: stories of members of the US Paralympic team

Photo: depositphotos

Paralympic Games will be held from 7 to 18 in September in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in which the US will represent 289 athletes.

ForumDaily collected stories of some of them.

Tatyana McFadden

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The story of US Paralympic champion Tatiana McFadden seems unique in every way. Tatyana - named the fastest woman on three wheels - was born in 1989 in Leningrad with paralysis of her legs, writes "Voice of America«.

Until the age of 6, she grew up in an orphanage. After she was adopted by American Deborah McFadden, Tatiana's life changed forever. Today she has achieved the status of an all-round athlete, breaking several world records and winning 11 medals. At the games in Rio, Tatyana hopes to win at least 7 medals. For Tatiana, as for other athletes with disabilities, the Paralympic Games are the main event in her life.

Oksana Masters

Photo: Twitter

American of Ukrainian origin Oksana Masters (Bondarchuk), a legend of world Paralympic sports, winner of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, does not forget her roots. The girl’s Twitter avatar has two flags: American and Ukrainian.

Her story on her page on the social network Facebook told user Denis Oleynikov.

She was born on June 16, 1989 in Khmelnitsky - with terrible birth defects, which were most likely associated with exposure to radiation: the absence of some bones in the legs, thumbs, nails, etc. Her parents abandoned her right in the maternity hospital. The girl was sent to an orphanage.

At the age of 7, Oksana was adopted by a single, childless woman from the United States, a speech therapist by profession. The girl moved to the USA, where her adoptive mother began to fight for her rehabilitation.

This allowed the girl to become a star of the world Paralympic sport.

Seth Jan

Photo: Twitter

After graduating from college in North Carolina, Seth Jan believed that he would part with football forever and wanted to do something else.

“I didn’t want sport to play a decisive role in my life,” he says.

He became a firefighter and part-time nurse. Then he served in the army, in Iraq and Afghanistan, he writes Share America.

It turned out, however, that football did not want to part with Seth. In Rio de Janeiro, he will debut as captain of the US Paralympic football team 7 XX7.

To perform a combat mission, the unit in which Seth Jan served was seconded to the location of the Afghan National Army. According to him, neither he nor his colleagues for a long time could not come to an understanding with one of the groups of the Afghan military.

“Nothing worked. They did not trust us, and we, although we performed the same tasks. Then one of us brought a soccer ball to the helipad - and barriers, as it happened, ”says Seth.

It has become a tradition. The first matches were held “5-to-5”, then “10-to-10” and even “19-to-19”. Playing and having fun, the Americans and Afghans gradually became twinned.

A week later, one of the Afghans, who had never before confessed to conversations with the Americans, warned them about the impending attack.

“I’m sure football saved my life,” says Seth.

In 2010, Seth Jan was badly injured in battle. His car rolled off a cliff and fell into the water. Seth was trapped.

The hospital diagnosed serious injuries to the ribs and spinal cord, as well as traumatic brain injury. The doctors said that he would never be able to walk, and that, if he was lucky, maybe he would live for another 10 years.

A miracle happened. The staff of the hospitals and rehabilitation centers where Seth was treated and recuperated for 2 years admired his success. He spoke again and, in the end, he learned to walk again. He was offered to try his hand as part of the Paralympic football team.

In his words, an important incentive was the desire to once again carry on the shoulder the emblem and flag of the United States.

Seth was included in the team in 2014 year. He knows that Paralympic football “7-to-7” is much faster than standard football “11-to-11”. The football field is smaller, and the ball cannot be raised higher than the 1 meter.

33-year-old is eagerly looking forward to seeing the renowned Brazilian Paralympic team.

Brad snider

Photo: Instagram

US Navy Lieutenant Brad Snyder lost his sight on the battlefield in Afghanistan. Exactly one year after that, he performed at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

This was his first Paralympics. Brad won the 3 medals, including the 2 gold.

Now the swimmer is one of the favorites for the upcoming Paralympic starts in Rio de Janeiro. He says that he considers it an honor to compete with the best blind athletes in the world, writes Share America.

Each of them has overcome many difficulties and, according to him, their destinies testify to the invincibility of the human spirit.

Brad Snyder lost his 7 eyesight on September 2011, when he was in a hurry to help two Afghans who were hit by a land mine. Specialist for the disposal of explosive devices, he stepped on a mine.

Brad recalls: after the explosion, he thought he was dead. He was thrown back, he was blind, but his arms and legs, fortunately, remained intact.

Before everything happened, Brad was the captain of the swimmers team of the US Naval Academy. Recovering, he did not stop swimming.

Only a few months of training - and in 2012, Brad Snyder won the right to play in the US Paralympic team. He swam not only for self-affirmation. According to him, it was a way to show friends that everything was alright and that he was the same as before.

His faithful guide dog Gizzy is sent to the Brazilian Rio from Baltimore, Maryland.

Jarried wallace

“That summer day of the 2012 of the year, when I went to the start of the Paralympic Games in London, was bitter and joyful for me. The stadium was less than a mile from the hospital where I had a leg amputated, ”says Jarrid Wallace, wrote Share America.

A runner from the city of Athens in Georgia, who won medals in middle-distance races, faced a depressing prospect: a complication after an injury, known as compartment syndrome, meant that he would lose his leg. Collapsed and his plans to work as a coach at the University of Georgia. But Jarried overcame all the difficulties and decided that even an amputation could not interrupt his sports career.

He says: “At that moment, when I decided to agree to amputation, I made another decision - to keep running.”

In 2010, Jarrida was operated on. He went through everything with the idea of ​​Paralympic starts. I trained hard. He was sure of himself and that everything would be in his favor. Coached college students on weekends.

In 2012, at his first Paralympic Games in London, Jarrid finished sixth in the 600 meters. In Rio de Janeiro, he is one of the main contenders for the gold medal at the 100-meter distance: last year, with a result of 10,71 seconds, the sprinter broke the world record at the American Paralympic competitions in Toronto.

Jarried is convinced that he and his teammates are capable of everything.

Returning home to Georgia, Jarrid spends a lot of time with other people who have undergone an amputation, and is trying to make their lives easier in new conditions.

Blake haxton

Photo: Twitter

Six years ago, when Blake Hackston was a teenager in Columbus (Ohio), he was considered a promising oarsman who was invited by the best US university teams. Then the doctors told him that the pain in his leg was necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as “carnivorous disease,” writes Share America.

The disease almost deprived him of his life and led to the amputation of both legs. He spent a month in a coma and suffered 20 surgeries before he managed to contain the infection.

Haxton decided that the road to rowing was closed to him - a sport in which an athlete sits on a sliding seat, allowing him to put pressure on the footrest and run oars through the water, using the power of his legs.

But his family did not allow him to surrender. He began experimenting with a rowing machine and a pair-rower. She seemed like a completely new sport, but it was also “a kind of liberation.”

The rowing community also rallied around the athlete. During the 100 days he spent in the hospital, he was visited by former coaches, teammates and even a member of the US men's rowing team 2004, Jason Reed.

Thanks to the support, Haxton continued to work and improve his skills. Now, instead of a swing-eight boat, he trains in a lighter and faster single with two oars, equipped with pontoons that help maintain stability, while he sets the boat in motion solely due to the strength of his arms and upper body. He won the right to play for the US team less than 12 months after the resumption of training.

The camaraderie of the US team prompted him to train hard in preparation for the Paralympic Games. He wants everyone to see the support that teammates, coaches and his brother have. “I may be alone in this boat, but many people help me,” he says.

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