Disabled Sports USA

Challenge Magazine Winter 2004

"Military Represented Well in Athens"
"Complete List of Medalists"
"Lindsay Nielsen's Ironman Thoughts"

Team USA competed against more than 3,900 athletes during the XII Paralympic Games, Sept. 17–28 in Athens, Greece. With a total of 88 medals, 27 of which were gold, the U.S. finished fourth overall behind China, Australia, and Great Britain.

Of the 135 countries competing, more than half – 75 – won medals. As shown by the number of countries on the medal board, 2004 marked a significant jump in the level of competition at the Games.

"We got our redemption.
We came out and showed
who was the team to beat!"

Christina Ripp of the U.S. women's
wheelchair basketball team.

“A lot of countries like Great Britain and China had fewer medals in Athens but weren’t losing to each other. They were losing to smaller countries like Canada, Spain, and the Ukraine,” said Julie O’Neill, Swimming Program Manager for U.S. Paralympics.

The Paralympic Sailing Team recognized the same trend. “Previously there were four or five boats in contention,” said USA Team Leader Serge Jorgensen. “Now we’re seeing countries like Poland and Greece winning races. The level of competition has gone up exponentially since Sydney.”

Recognizing that a new standard is being set among all these elite athletes and countries competing, O’Neill said, “It’s great competition and good for the Paralympic movement.”

Competition Highlights
One of the most memorable success stories coming out of Athens was 19-year-Salt Lake City Paralympicsold Erin Popovich (Butte, MT), a dwarf athlete who made her debut in the 2000 Sydney Games. In Athens, she competed in five individual events and two relays, walking away with seven gold medals, three world and four Paralympic records.

The relay wins represent the first gold-medal finishes in the Paralympic Games for the U.S. women in a functional

class (meaning S1-S10, not including visual impairments.) Popovich’s gold medal streak has spurred comparisons with Michael Phelps’ (Baltimore, MD) performance in the Olympics. “It’s cool that even though I may be short, I can compete at the same level and do just as well,” Popovich said.

The men and women of the U.S. Paralympic swim team racked up an impressive 35 medals over the course of the Games.

Also contributing to Team USA’s success were Paralympic newcomers – and multiple medallists–
Mikhaila Rutherford (Alameda, CA) and Jessica Long (Dundalk, MD) on the women’s side, and Michael Prout (West Springfield, MA) and Justin Zook (Plymouth, MN) on the men’s side.

16-year-old Rutherford won two individual gold medals (200 individual medley and 100 backstroke in world record time), as well as a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke. Long, the youngest member of the U.S. delegation at age 12, took home two individual gold medals (in the 100 and 400 freestyle). Each added a gold medal for their performances in the 4X100m relays.

Prout and Zook also displayed the breadth of up-and-coming U.S. talent, earning two individual medals each. Prout earned a gold in the 400 freestyle, and a bronze in the 100 freestyle, while Zook claimed a gold in the 100 backstroke and a bronze in the 50 freestyle.

In team action, the members of the women’s wheelchair basketball squad were the ones to watch, capturing a hard-earned gold medal – only the second gold in history for the team. After the team’s disappointing fifth-place finish in Sydney, the women came to Athens seeking redemption.

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Putting an initial loss to Australia behind them, the team forged ahead with four significant wins (over the Dutch, Great Britain, Japan, and Canada) and a final triumph over Australia (56-44) for the gold medal.

“We got our redemption. We came out and showed who was the team to beat!” said Christina Ripp (Madison, WI).
Amassing 26 medals for Team USA, the track and field squad also had a strong showing in Athens.

Brian Frasure (Apex, NC) offered the most drama for the U.S. track and field team. After taking a bronze in the T44 200 and silver in the T44 100, Frasure shocked the crowd in the T42-46 4x100 relay when he ran down both the French and Australian relay teams within the final meters to bring Team USA the gold medal.

Frasure then anchored the T42-46 4x400 relay team of Danny Andrews (Miami, FL), Raphew Reed Jr. (Baton Rouge, LA), and Ryan Fann (Nashville, TN) to a world record-setting performance of 3:27.00.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to finish these Games,” an elated Frasure said upon completing the race.

Visually impaired track sprinter Royal Mitchell (Ardmore, PA) rebounded from a disqualification in the T13 200 to win gold medals in the 400 and 100. “After what happened in the 200, I wanted to come back and do well in the 100 and 400 to show I was a mature athlete,” Mitchell said.

Marlon Shirley (Chula Vista, CA) retained his title as the World’s Fastest Leg Amputee when he won the T44 100-meter dash in a Paralympic record of 11.08 seconds. He also captured bronze in the T44 long jump, and set a world record for his classification en route to winning silver in the T44 200.

April Holmes In addition to golds in the relays, Andrews earned a world record and gold medal on his own in the T44 400.

One athlete who came away from the Games with a pair of world records, but no medals in those events, was April Holmes (Somerdale, NJ). Due to a lack of competitors in her T44 classification for athletes with single-leg disabilities, Holmes had to compete against athletes with single-arm disabilities. Despite finishing near the back of the field in the finals, Holmes made great gains for the standards of T44 female sprinters with her world record times in the 100 and 200. Holmes did win bronze in the T44 long jump, so she didn’t leave Greece empty-handed.

Cheri Blauwet (Larchwood, IA) came into her second Paralympic Games as a reinvented competitor, switching from sprints to distance. She captured gold in the T53 800, her first. Then she competed against less-disabled wheelchair racers in the 5,000 and marathon, where she won the bronze in both.

In cycling, the women’s tandem team of Karissa Whitsell (Springfield, OR) and Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, CO) accounted for four of the team’s nine medals. For Whitsell, a visually impaired cyclist who also competed in Sydney, this represented the first medals of her Paralympic career. With two gold, one silver, and one bronze, the tandem team won a medal in every race they entered. Female Wheelchair race

The New Wave
Elected by fellow American teammates, Kevin Szott (Clifton, NJ) and Trischa Zorn (Fisher, IN) carried the flag for Opening and Closing Ceremonies respectively. Both athletes, now retiring after competing in Athens, have made names for themselves in Paralympic history. Dan

Szott is only the second athlete ever to medal in four different sports at the Paralympic Games. With a recent focus on judo, he earned a bronze in Athens. Zorn, the most decorated Paralympian in the history of the Games, earned her 55th medal during the Athens Paralympics, a bronze in the 100-meter backstroke (S12 classification for athletes with visual impairments).

While the XII Paralympiad was the last Games appearance for several U.S. athletes – like Szott and Zorn, Athens was also the perfect stage to usher in the new wave of U.S. Paralympians.

Casey As shown by their debut in Athens, a new generation of promising young athletes is eager to step into the spotlight. Along with the young swim team talent – of the 35 medals won by Team USA, 23 came from the rookie class – many of the other sports have young hopefuls in their sights.

For example, the women’s sitting volleyball team, who wasn’t expected to medal in Athens, took the bronze – a significant accomplishment for such a young team.

Also keep an eye out for Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, MD), a wheelchair racer on the track and field team who took silver in the T54 100 and bronze in the T54 200; Lindsey Carmichael (Lago Vista, TX), the first Danjor female archer to compete on the U.S. team since 1988; and Jeff Skiba (Sammamish, WA), a standout high-jumper who earned a Paralympic record and silver medal. (A leg amputee, Skiba was second place only behind an arm amputee who was placed in the same classification.)

The new Paralympians, talented, fresh, motivated, and now veterans with their first Paralympic Games under their belts, are on their way to promising Paralympic careers.

Jessica As 15-year-old McFadden said, “It’s been my dream to come here. I’m very happy with how my first Paralympics went. Now I’m going to start focusing on Beijing.”

First-time swimmer Lantz Lamback (Augusta, GA) echoed her sentiment, saying “I’m leaving Athens with two bronze and a lifetime of memories…and I’ll be back for more.”

To Lamback, McFadden, and the rest of Team USA: we hope so. We’re already looking forward to Beijing 2008!

By Tara Dugan. Paul Meznarich and Jake Fehling contributed to this story.

Photos by Joseph Kusumoto

Athens Paralympic Facts:

800,000 tickets were sold.
136 nations participated, setting a new record. Sydney had 123.
a record-setting 3,969 athletes (2,763 men and 1,206 women) participated. 3,843 had completed in Sydney.
680 torchbearers carried the Paralympic Flame in a 410-kilometer journey through 54 municipalities of Attica.
China won 141 medals (63 gold, 46 silver, 32 bronze), topping the final medal standings, which featured a total of 75 nations.
The top multi-medallist in the Athens paralympic Games was swimmer Mayumi NARITA (JPN), with 7 gold and one bronze medals.
304 World Records and 448 paralympic Records were broken in Athens.
19 Paralympic sports were held in the Athens Paralympic Games, at 20 Paralympic Venues.

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