The backstory:
Katie was born without a fibula in her right leg, leading to amputation below the knee just before her second birthday. She nonetheless excelled at sports while growing up, eventually starring in both volleyball and basketball during high school. She played college hoops at Cal State Northridge—the first amputee to get an NCAA Division I women’s basketball scholarship—and took up sitting volleyball in her junior year. Two years later she made the first of three Paralympic appearances, which have yielded one gold medal and two silvers. She has twice been named USA Volleyball’s Female Athlete of the Year and is the current captain of the women’s sitting volleyball team.
Away from the court:
Katie works for the Veterans Administration as a recreation therapist and hosts the “Inside ParaSport” podcast with fellow Paralympic gold medalist Kelly Crowley.
In her own words:
“As an amputee from birth, I have seen significant change in opportunities provided to amputees. Before playing adaptive sports, I had a negative outlook because of my disability. But meeting girls and women like myself made it possible for me to become a more positive person and eventually a role model.”
“My love for volleyball has grown enormously in the last 10 years. The overall volleyball community is so broad, and volleyball people are junkies for the sport. It’s so much fun to be friends with those people. The volleyball family is so large, and yet so small. It’s quickly become a very close family to me.”
Learn more:
Team USA
AVP: “Katie Holloway’s Journey to Olympic Gold”
Veterans Administration: “A Paralympian by Determination”
CSU Northridge: “Holloway Savors Golden Summer”
Video: “You Have to Have Heart”
