Jessica Long of the U.S. reacts after placing first in the gold medal women’s 400 freestyle S8 final on Wednesday.
First-time Paralympic swimmers also made headlines and racked up medals. Ali Truwit won two silver medals just a year after losing part of her leg in a shark attack, and Christie Raleigh Crossley won five medals — and set a 50-meter freestyle world record — despite facing bullying from people who have doubted her disability.
Raleigh Crossley is tied with fellow swimmer Ellie Marks for most medals won by an American Paralympian in Paris.
Marks, a U.S. Army sergeant first class who now has nine career Paralympic medals — including Team USA’s first medal of the Paris Games — served as one of the flag bearers at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Americans extended winning streaks and achieved notable firsts
U.S. players pose with their gold medals after winning the wheelchair basketball men’s gold medal match at the 2024 Paralympics on Saturday.
It was a banner year for team sports, with Team USA winning repeat medals in many events.
The U.S. Para triathlon team won eight medals, the best performance for any country in the sport and the third year in a row the U.S. has placed first.
Team USA won its third straight title in men’s wheelchair basketball — the first country to ever do so — as well as women’s sitting volleyball.
The women’s wheelchair basketball team won silver for the first time in 32 years. The storied wheelchair rugby team also won a silver medal, reaching the podium for its seventh consecutive Games.
Four-time medalist Chuck Aoki cemented his status as the most decorated wheelchair rugby player in U.S. history, while Sarah Adam made history as the first American woman to win a Paralympic medal in the sport.
That’s one of many notable firsts for American athletes.
Duo Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon — both 19 years old — overcame the odds and a series of logistical obstacles to become the first U.S. athletes to medal in the sport of badminton at either the Paralympic or Olympic Games.
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Matt Stutzman of Team USA competes in the Para archery men’s quarterfinal on Sept, 1.
Four-time Paralympian Matt Stutzman made history as the first armless archer to win a Paralympic gold medal, in the men’s individual compound open.
Jeremy Campbell became the first Paralympian to throw over 60 meters in discus F64 (which earned him his fourth discus gold medal), while Noelle Malkamaki became the first woman to throw over 14 meters in the shot put F46 (which won her a gold medal and broke her own world record). Liana Mutia became the first American woman to medal in Para judo-57 kg.
And multi-sport athlete Oksana Masters repeated as champion in both of her individual Para cycling road race events, bringing her career medal total to 19 in four different sports — rowing, cross-country skiing, biathlon and cycling — across both Winter and Summer Games.
Marriage proposals, the first refugee team medals and other milestones
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Taekwondo fighter Zakia Khudadadi of the Refugee Paralympic Team, originally from Afghanistan, celebrates after winning the women’s contest on Aug.s 29.
The Paralympics were packed with incredible athletic achievements, powerful personal stories and other meaningful milestones.
Athletes broke more than 40 world records in less than two weeks, from the track and pool to the cycling arena and powerlifting bench.
Taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi won the Refugee Paralympic Team’s first-ever medal, and sprinter Guillaume Junior Atangana won its second in the men’s T11 400 meter. They each dedicated their bronze medals to the more than 120 million people worldwide forcibly displaced from their homes.
Several countries, like Eritrea, were represented at the Games for the first time. Others reached the medal podium for the first time, like Nepal, whose Palesha Goverdhan won bronze in taekwondo to give the country its first-ever Paralympic or Olympic medal.
In another first, British Para archer Jodie Grinham became the first known pregnant athlete to make it to the Paralympic podium. She won both the women’s individual compound bronze and mixed team gold “despite having to pause at times to reset her focus due to the baby kicking,” according to Olympics.com.
And among the many memorable moments outside of the competition were a whopping four marriage proposals to, by or between Paralympic athletes, a fitting motif for the “city of love.”
Preliminary numbers suggest that after a highly-watched Olympics in July, lots of viewers kept up with the action through September: Two million tickets to the Paralympics were sold by the day of the opening ceremony, and British broadcaster Channel 4 said at the halfway mark that the number of streaming views was double what it had been during that point in Tokyo 2020.
The next summer Olympics and Paralympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
Until then, we have the 2026 Winter Games in Italy to look forward to — as well as the appearance of beloved U.S. Olympians including rugby player Ilona Maher and gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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Publish date : 2024-09-09 04:30:00
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