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Paralympics

USA Retain Women’s Sitting Volleyball Crown After They Defeat China in Dramatic Final

September 7, 2021 by Tara S

USA Sitting Volleyball Olympics

Celebrations as USA overpower China 3-0 in a thrilling final to retain their Paralympic crown while Brazil claim bronze on the final day of competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

USA continued their dominance of women’s sitting volleyball by overpowering China in a thrilling final to retain their Paralympic crown.

The squad, which brought an end to China’s unbeaten run at the Paralympic Games in Rio 2016, did it again in impressive form to win 3-1 (25-12, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19) on the last day of competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

It was a fast and furious match with China’s ZHAO Meiling opening the scoreline with the first spike, but the Americans immediately responded with two from Kathryn Holloway and Lora Webster.

Setter Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, who won silver in London 2012 and gold in Rio 2016, was the USA’s key player in keeping the points flowing. Holloway slammed home another spike at 10-6 and the team motored towards the end of the first set, with Heather Erickson taking it in 25-12 in just 19 minutes.

The second set opened again with a point from China with XU Yixiao getting in the first spike, but after Maclay’s 39kmh serve, which was picked up by WANG Yanan, Erickson slammed home another spike, her seventh of the match.

It took just four minutes for the Americans to be up 8-3. China edged back with Wang getting a spike in after a dig error by Webster, but the USA pulled away and were soon up 12-6.

After time out at 13-6, China regrouped as TANG Xuemei, who was a gold medallist in London 2012, immediately smashed a spike passed Holloway. Zhang got a second in, but then Erickson hit home a winner, before Tang replied after a dig error by Matthews.

At 16-10 to the Americans it seemed only a question of time before they closed out the set, but China’s Xu and Wang had other ideas. They both set up a series of spikes and the scoreline got to 19-17. At two points adrift of their opponents, they levelled, but Matthews 11th spike of the match sealed the second set 25-20.

Going into the third, America was just a set away from back-to-back golds. Holloway opened with two points in quick succession. China got two back and the scoreline was drawn but Matthews got in her 12th spike to push them ahead. But Wang was pivotal in changing the score line with a series of spikes and the country was soon leading 10-8.

Holloway and Erickson levelled the score but China pulled away again. The points changed back and forth until China sealed the set 25-22 after 25 minutes.

The nation was more confident going into the fourth and denied the USA the opportunity to pull away with a series of points by Xu and LYU Hongqin. At 21-17 it was all to play for until USA claimed a block. China came back fighting with a point by Lyu, but Erickson, who had impressed throughout the match, set a spike at 24 and the matched was closed out after a reception error by Zhang at 25-19.

When the final bell went the USA team erupted in cheers and hugs. It had been a long battle. On their way to the final USA, who were also silver medallists in London 2012 and Beijing 2008 and bronze medallists in Athens 2004, had not conceded a set. They beat China in an earlier heat as well as Rwanda and the Russian Paralympic Committee before overpowering Brazil in the semifinal.

In the women’s bronze medal sitting volleyball match, Brazil came out on top with a 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 26-24, 25-14) win over Canada. Their compatriot Para swimming legend Daniel Dias, who retired this week as the sport’s most successful Paralympian with 27 medals, was in the arena to cheer them on.

Filed Under: Paralympics, Volleyball, Women in Sports

One Minute, One Sport | Para Athletics Track

April 13, 2021 by Tara S

Overview

The first Para athletics competition was held in 1952 when several athletes with a spinal cord injury took part in a javelin event as part of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which served injured World War II veterans. At Rome 1960, the Para athletics competition featured 31 athletes (21 men and 10 women) from 10 countries who took part in 25 medal events.

Para athletics differs significantly from athletics at the Olympics as athletes are placed into competition categories (called sport classes) according to how much their impairment affects sports performance.

Track events may include short, medium and long-distance races as well as relays. However, they are not fixed since the question of which events and classes are held is determined on a competition-by-competition basis in light of factors such as the number of participating athletes.

Athletes challenge their limits by striving to shave even a fraction of a second off their personal best time while compensating for their impairment.

Find out about the details of athletics classification

[Read more…] about One Minute, One Sport | Para Athletics Track

Filed Under: Paralympics, Track and Field

Paralympic Superstar Alice Tai Signs With Speedo

March 1, 2021 by Tara S

by: Brandi West

Speedo, the world’s leading swimwear brand, has today announced the signing of British Paralympic swimmer Alice Tai MBE.

Tai, who competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8 categories, is a champion at Paralympic, World, European and Commonwealth level and will look to add to her already stellar career at this summer’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

[Read more…] about Paralympic Superstar Alice Tai Signs With Speedo

Filed Under: Athlete Spotlight, Inclusive Sports, Paralympics, Swimming, Women's Sports

Skier Has Sights Set on Paralympics After Overcoming Setbacks

February 13, 2021 by Tara S

Paige VanArsdale Paralympic skier

by: Arielle Orsuto

Paige VanArsdale is a skier with cerebral palsy. After suffering a concussion in 2017 during her Paralympic training, she faced more obstacles than she imagined.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Carving through white powder while representing the Stars and Stripes — it’s been a goal for Paige VanArsdale for nearly her whole life.

“I’ve dreamed of it ever since I started skiing when I was three years old,” she said.

[Read more…] about Skier Has Sights Set on Paralympics After Overcoming Setbacks

Filed Under: Athlete Spotlight, Inclusive Sports, Paralympics, Skiing

Paralympic ambition: Susana Rodriguez on a mission to succeed in Tokyo

January 7, 2021 by Tara S

by Courtney Akrigg on 07 Jan, 2021 05:19 •  Español

Susana Rodriguez was born with albinism. In 2013, the Spanish Para Triathletes was acknowledged as Athlete of the Year by the city of Vigo in Spain and in 2016 she represented Spain at the Paralympic Games, the year the sport of para triathlon made its Paralympic debut.
Susana started her para triathlon career in 2010, earning the World Para Triathlon Championship gold medal in London and then again the following year in Madrid. After representing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games, where she placed 5th, Susana Rodriguez went on to earn back-to-back world titles at the 2018 World Championship Series on the Gold Coast and 2019 in Lausanne.

“Trust is a must for visual impaired training and racing, it is the only thing that will allow you to push the hardest.”
“I would like to race my second Paralympic Games this year in Tokyo and try to win a medal although it will be very difficult. What I have no doubt is that I will do my best.”
“When you love something you don’t care about the effort you put on it or the hard it is, you just go for it.”

Susana Rodriguez shares career highlights, discusses how para triathlon has developed and shaped her life, her ambition to medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this year and being the first blind woman to become a medical doctor in Spain.

WT: Your career is impressive, you won gold in London 2010 and again in Madrid in 2011. You represented Spain at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games and earnt back-to-back world para triathlon titles at the on the Gold Coast (2018) and Lausanne (2019).
What is it about the sport of para triathlon that keeps you motivated to train and compete?
SR: I have done different sports all my life even though my family is not at all from a sporting background. I started to compete when I was 10 in athletics attending a Spanish Championship for visually impaired children in Madrid and I really enjoyed and had some nice results without training. Then I did swimming and some more sprint track racing where I had my first international racing experience as a teenager. In 2008 I had the MQS for participating in Beijing Paralympics at 100m but Spain had 6 female slots and we were 7 woman with qualifying times, so I had to stay at home. I was very disappointed so I stopped doing sports for a couple of years but in 2010 I found para triathlon.

For me it was a challenge to do my first duathlon race. I had never completed that distance before, had never done tandem racing and I wanted to try just to finish one. I liked it so much that I decided to have a go in a super sprint triathlon at Casa de Campo in Madrid. I bought a tandem bike and as soon as we crossed the finish line a woman from World Triathlon called Sarah Spingmann told my guide and I that she would like us to race in London as triathlon was after the bid of making its Paralympic debut in Rio 2016. We put the tandem inside a cardboard box and left to London. I really enjoyed the triathlon atmosphere and never left the sport since then.

Going faster and being stronger is what keeps me motivated and also working hard for a long time in the sport while it keeps growing and the level gets higher in para triathlon.

WT: Where/how do you currently train and how important is the relationship and trust with your guide?
SR: I train in Vigo, where I was born in. Several times a year we leave the city looking for training camps in better weather conditions, as the winter here is very wet and rainy and we also relocate for altitude training in southern Spain. I do 5 swimming sessions, 5/6 bike sessions (some on the tandem some on the turbo), 5 running plus some gym, physiotherapy and stretching. Except for the turbo sessions I do the whole training with a guide (triathlon guide Sara or track guide Celso) or some other great friends that help me all the year.
Trust is a must for visual impaired training and racing, it is the only thing that will allow you to push the hardest.

WT: Race highlights?
SR: I think there are three races that stand out as highlights over others. The first one was 2012 Auckland because it was my first time competing at the Para Triathlon World Championships and my guide in those times (Mayalen) and I travelled so far without any kind of help and we did a great job there,
The second one it is 2014 Kitbuhel Paratriathlon European Championships because it was my first continental title and I had a great 400m finish battling against Melissa Reid from GBR who is a good friend and has been in the sport for a long time like me. The third I would choose Gold Coast 2018 Grand Final because I love Australia and I had worked very hard after Rio 2016 to try to get back on the podium.

WT: How do you think para triathlon has developed since you’ve been competing?
SR: It has progressed a lot. If I compare my first World Championships in 2012 with last years in Lausanne, it is a different world. We have a ranking system for entering races, which means that you have to work hard to have a spot on each important competition, national teams have developed structures now that help the para triathletes get to the races in the best conditions as the elite athletes we are. There has also been many competition rules changes and the sports level is much higher. One example of this, my first World Championships was won running 4.30 min/km while my last world title was won running 3.51 min/km.

WT: You also have another very important career, in the medical industry, outside of your professional one in para triathlon?
SR: I studied Medicine at Santiago de Compostela University from 2009 to 2015 and then did the exam for becoming an intern in 2016. I was studying quite hard before Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. And the last four years I have been working on physical medicine and rehabilitation department to become a specialist in this area. 2020 was a surprise with the COVID-19 pandemic and during some months, like many medical professionals in Spain, we left our daily work to join the battle against coronavirus. It was a quite hard year and still is even now I have stopped my medical job until I am back from Tokyo Paralympic Games. I am the first blind woman to become a medical doctor in Spain and I am very pleased because I love my work.

WT: How did you find the balance with your medical job and para triathlon training and competing?
SR: It was very hard. Now that I am just training I realised how crazy my life was trying to balance it all. I worked from 8am to 3pm got home at 5pm because of public transport schedule and then did my whole training from 6 pm until I finished. I used my holidays for competing which means I did not have any rest time since Rio 2016 until 2020. But I say that when you love something you don’t care about the effort you put on it or the hard it is, you just go for it.

WT: How have you coped/adapted with the challenges presented during 2019 and the ongoing pandemic?
SR: As I said 2020 has been a challenge for me since the beginning. In January I was diagnosed with a heart condition and there were some weeks when I was waiting for some genetic tests that I did not know If I could keep doing para triathlon because of swimming. Luckily all the final assessment results were quite fast and I am so pleased with my cardiologist Dr Maria Alvarez who explained things clearly and made it easier for me to make decisions. I was cleared to train and compete, started medication, created a security plan and later in the year had a little surgery to getting a cardiac monitor device implanted which is now inside my chest. It is all a bit weird but now I am very happy because all the data is transferred each night to the hospital and if there is any further concerns, I will know. I am now able to push hard again in each training session which was something that I missed for months. The sensation of doing something you love and doubting if you are at the correct place or you should be at home was not nice.
In between all the races were cancelled, training venues closed for a long time but I have tried to keep positive and enjoyed training at home every day. When I was back from work and I feel pleased that I could help in the health industry in Spain.
I have learnt a lot from this ongoing situation: there is nothing as important as health and life goes first and before anything.

WT: If you had advice for other aspiring athletes who may want to get into triathlon or para triathlon, what would it be?
SR: I would say that it is a very inclusive sport and that is not for super heroes as people think. You can start with shorter distances to see if you like it but I always say that if you do one you will repeat. I am absolutely in love with this sport because you never get bored and you can always do new things in training to improve.

WT: What else would you like to achieve in the sport?
SR: First of all I would like to race my second Paralympic games in Tokyo and try to win a medal although it will be very difficult. What I have no doubt is that I will do my best!
I also would like to work across clean sport initiatives and to acknowledge young athletes and coaches of the importance of knowing how to act in case of a sudden cardiac arrest with CPR and how to use an AED.

WT: Who has been your greatest influence?
SR: My family and especially my sister, she has been my best role model to follow. 

Find out more about World Para Triathlon.

Filed Under: Athlete Spotlight, Inclusive Sports, Paralympics, Running

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