17 Unique, Wild, And Surprising Facts About Paralympic Athletes
After his match, Brazilian badminton player Rogerio Junior Xavier de Oliveira got down on one knee with a sign and a ring box to propose to his partner, Edwarda Dias, who’s a Brazilian Paralympic volleyball player.
Here are 17 interesting facts about the Paralympians competing at the 2024 Paris Games:
1. British archer Jodie Grinham won a gold medal and a bronze medal while competing seven months pregnant.
2. Team USA track and field athlete and silver and two-time bronze medalist Hunter Woodhall is married to Team USA track and field athlete and Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall. They met at a track meet in Idaho in 2017.
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3. Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo is the first out trans runner to compete in the Paralympics. She’s also the second trans athlete to compete in the games. There’s reportedly a documentary about her in the works.
4. American archer Matt Stutzman prepared for Paris by creating an adrenaline-inducing target practice scenario at home. He challenged himself to shoot a target with his silver medal hanging from it, but he raised the stakes by taking the doors off his race car, parking it in front of the target, and shooting through his house with the front and back doors open. He made the shot without damaging any of his prized possessions.
5. At 8’1, Iranian volleyball player Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is the second-tallest man in the world.
6. If American track and field athletes Ryan Medrano and Noelle Lambert seem familiar, it’s probably because they competed on Survivor Season 43 in 2022!
7. American archer Tracy Otto accepted her partner Ricky Riessle’s proposal under the Eiffel Tower after her competition. Making their time in Paris even more special, the couple also announced that they’re expecting their first child together!
8. Ahead of his competition, Team USA jumper Roderick Townsend went to a Parisian salon to get his hair colored in a Picasso-esque design because he’s “a showman.”
9. After his match, Brazilian badminton player Rogerio Junior Xavier de Oliveira got down on one knee with a sign and a ring box to propose to his partner, Edwarda Dias, who’s a Brazilian Paralympic volleyball player.
10. Indian archer Sheetal Devi dreamed of becoming a teacher when she grew up until, at age 14, she took up archery. Within three years, she reached the Paralympic level.
11. American judoka Liana Mutia, who’s also a Comcast software engineer, prepares for her matches months in advance by scouting her competitors and creating spreadsheets with info about them.
12. 15-year-old French sprinter Marie Ngoussou is the youngest Paralympian on Team France. After the Games, she’s going to study the care of the elderly and children in a professional baccalaureate class.
13. Team USA fencer Ellen Geddes, who was formerly a competitive equestrian, works with horses as a breeder, facility manager, trainer, and instructor on her parents’ farm in South Carolina.
14. American swimmer Jessica Long was only 12 when she made her Paralympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games, where she won three gold medals.
15. Colombian sprinter and jumper Karen Tatiana Palomeque’s pre-competition ritual is painting a little Colombian flag on her face.
16. American swimmer Anastasia Pagonis has a popular TikTok account with 2.5 million followers. She creates beauty and lifestyle content alongside educating her viewers on what life’s like as a blind person.
17. And finally, French sprinter Timothée Adolphe is a hip-hop artist, and he also created the first inclusive multiplayer video game that visually impaired and non-visually impaired gamers can both play.
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