In this era of specialized prosthetic technology, mismatches between amputee and device are common. Even Paralympians aren’t immune, as silver medalist John Register explains.
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Category: Road to Tokyo
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Why the Paralympics Matter to All Amputees
The Tokyo Paralympics are part of a larger, more important story: the normalization of limb difference and the changing cultural perceptions of disability.
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Down Time: How COVID Affected Paralympic Athletes
Paralympic athletes are used to making adaptions, and the pandemic was no different. Some even used the down time to get stronger, faster, and more focused heading into Tokyo.
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US Paralympic Trials: Six Amputee Athletes to Know
These six amputee athletes have a lot at stake during this week’s US Paralympic Trials. They're not well known yet—but they might be after the Tokyo Games conclude.
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Melissa Stockwell Keeps the Flag Flying at the Paralympics
Iraq War veteran and three-time Paralympian Melissa Stockwell sees a lot of overlap between the duty to promote American values and the duty to raise amputees’ visibility.
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Desmond Jackson Blazes the Trail
Amputee athlete Desmond Jackson is blazing trails and advancing the cause of cultural inclusion for amputees, people with disabilities, and people of color.
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NBC Counts on the Paralympics to Deliver Gold
In an exclusive interview, NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel discusses the trends driving the network's beefed-up coverage of the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
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Jake Schrom Pays the Price of Admission to the Paralympics
As a weightlifter, Jake Schrom can't attract the same sponsorship dollars that swimmers and sprinters can. He pays a big chunk of his own travel, training, and coaching expenses.
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Katy Sullivan: Acclaimed Actor, Accidental Athlete
Not many Paralympic sprinters have also starred in a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. That’s the remarkable journey of Katy Sullivan, a bilateral amputee who always viewed herself as an actor until her life took an unplanned detour into track and field.
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The Podium Comes First for Brian Bell—Then the Platform
Wheelchair basketball player Brian Bell is focused on winning another gold medal in Tokyo. But outside the arena, he feels a responsibility to use his voice as a Paralympian to address issues beyond sports.
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Nichole Millage on the Power of Team Chemistry
Some of Nichole Millage's sitting volleyball teammates were still in grade school when she won her first Paralympic medal. Here's how she breaks down the roster and her own role in it.
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For Ezra Frech, It’s About Way More Than the Medals
Paralympic athlete Ezra Frech believes passionately that adaptive sports can empower all people with disabilities and help everyone—even non-athletes—feel like a champion.
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The Marketplace Comes to Melissa Stockwell
Melissa Stockwell was part of the first wave of US Paralympians to demonstrate the marketing potential of adaptive athletes. Here's why advertisers are increasingly apt to see the Paralympics as a great marketing opportunity.
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Fast Dash to the Pros for Hunter Woodhall
The NCAA's nonsensical eligibility guidelines left Paralympic medal contender Hunter Woodhall with only one logical choice: turn pro.
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Brian Bell Chases His Hoop Dreams
Although he had the misfortune to lose his right leg in a childhood accident, Brian Bell had the good luck to grow up in the adaptive sports hotbed of Birmingham, Alabama. Blessed with first-rate coaching, equipment, and sponsorship support from an early age, Bell blossomed into one of the nation’s most sought-after wheelchair basketball recruits...
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Nouveaux Niches at the Paralympics
This year’s Paralympics will be the first to offer live coverage of every sport to US television viewers. Here are a handful of US amputees who have high hopes in low-profile sports
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Nichole Millage Keeps the Ball Flying
Amputee volleyball player Nichole Millage already has a Paralympic gold and two silvers. So why is she putting herself through the wringer for a shot at one last medal?
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Melissa Stockwell Stays the Course
Melissa Stockwell was supposed to be six months into retirement from athletics by now, focused on family and business and (ideally) basking in the glow of a Tokyo gold medal. When the 2020 Games were pushed back by a year due to COVID, she briefly entertained the idea of sticking with Plan A—retiring on schedule,...
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Hunter Woodhall Gets Back to Business
When COVID put the Paralympics on hold, amputee athlete Hunter Woodhall didn’t need long to figure out how to rechannel his energy. He launched a new company. And he didn’t worry about the stuff he couldn’t control.
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US Olympic and Paralympic Museum: First Impressions
The US Olympic and Paralympic Museum was originally supposed to open back in May, about a month before the Olympic and Paralympic Trials and three months (give or take) before the Tokyo Games. For reasons we needn’t rehash, the opening got delayed and the Games got postponed. We’re still a year out from the (now)...
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Pedaling Through the Pandemic
Congrats to the team of paratriathletes who kicked off National Triathlon Week by cycling across Colorado’s deserts, peaks and plains to raise $21,000+ (and counting) for people who’ve taken a hit in the pocketbook because of the pandemic.
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Tokyo 2021: Allan Armstrong Soldiers On
SFC Allan Armstrong resumed running just six months after he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in 2013. He returned to active military duty a few months after that, took up paratriathlon in 2015, and won his first U.S. championship in less than two years.
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Tokyo 2021: Lacey Henderson Looks Ahead
When we spoke to Lacey Henderson back on March 19, the Paralympics were still supposedly going to be held on schedule in August 2020. She no longer had a place to train, though—her regular training facility had closed a few days earlier—and all the spring qualifying meets had been called off.
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Hunter Woodhall’s New Legs
Hunter Woodhall is one of the biggest stars and most recognizable faces on the US Paralympics team. We’ll be talking to Hunter regularly throughout 2020 as he prepares for his second Paralympic Games and pursues his first gold medal(s) in track and field. This conversation took place in late February, after Hunter wrapped up a long weekend with prosthetist Francois Van Der Watt.