Ezra Frech

The Backstory:
Frech is the youngest male athlete on the 2020 US Paralympic team, having just turned 16 in May of this year. Yet he’s already a veteran competitor, with one trip to the World Championships under his belt, a three-medal performance at the 2019 World Para Athletics Junior Championships, and a two-medal appearance at the 2019 Parapan American Games. In 2014 he was a finalist for Sports Illustrated‘s SportsKid of the Year award. The following year, Frech and his family launched Angel City Sports, a Los Angeles-based organization that is working to enlarge adaptive sports community on the West Coast and across the country. The Tokyo Games are Frech’s Paralympic debut.

Away from the track:
Frech is a high-profile ambassador for adaptive sports and, more generally, cultural inclusion for people with disabilities. He routinely appears on television and at conferences.

In their own words:
“This whole pandemic stinks. But I’ve learned so much more about myself than I ever would have. I came out stronger, and I definitely learned a lot about my training, a lot about my habits. It’s helped me work on the long-term gratification of bettering myself—strengthening my friendships with the people I’m closest with, becoming a better athlete, becoming more technically sound and smarter with how we’re working out and how we’re training so we can ultimately be more productive.”

“There are very few disability advocates who are in the public eye. But millions and millions of people are seeing adaptive athletes on a daily basis, and we’re able to talk about issues that affect everyone. You get it on NBC in prime time, on mainstream media outlets with millions and millions and millions of viewers, and that’s getting the word out to people.”

Learn more:
Team USA page
IPC page
Angel City Sports
Amplitude, “Ezra Frech Feels the Love”
Amplitude, “For Ezra Frech, It’s About Way More Than Sports”
Alma, “18 Things to Know About Ezra Frech”
Challenged Athletes Foundation