27 March 2008

Paralympics offers competition, “second chance”

Team hopeful, officials say sports helps overcome physical trauma

The speakers are: Melissa Stockwell, a U.S. Paralympics hopeful; John Register, U.S. Paralympics associate director for outreach and development; Jimi Flowers, U.S. Paralympics national team manager; and Jim Scherr, United States Olympic Committee chief executive officer.

The video was produced in March 2008 by America.gov.

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Melissa Stockwell: I can really do anything I want to do, you know, missing a leg or not. I was in the United States Army and we were deployed over to Iraq in March of 2004 and we hit an IED, a road side bomb.  I lost my left leg.  Today I'm an above the knee amputee on the left side.

John Register:  It's important to support disabled athletes because they represent such a positive impetus in our society.  These individuals that have experienced trauma in their lives overcome their physical limitations by sport.

Stockwell:  I had never heard of the Paralympics before.  When I found out about them I knew immediately that that's something I wanted to try for. It was almost like I had a second chance.  Sports are a way of life for a lot of people.  I knew I wouldn't really be myself until I got back into athletics.

Jimi Flowers:  Her two best events are 400 free and 100 fly.  She's gone from this long shot to a really good shot. We have nine swim work outs, three weight work outs, and three dry land work outs in a six day period.

Stockwell: I have done more with one leg than I ever would have done with two.  For real.  Never before had I done a triathlon and I went out there and completed the whole thing. And crossing the finish line was like I was reborn.  I mean, it was huge to cross that finish line.  And to be out there with people who had both their legs and both their arms and doing the exact same thing they were doing, sure it might take you a little longer but you still get to the finish line.

Flowers:  When someone’s missing a leg it throws off their balance.  And I don’t really consider it a disability; I consider it, what’s their ability?  What’s their ability to do this certain set or what’s their ability to do this certain drill?  So how do I make their ability to that so they can succeed and swim fast here and at the Paralympic trials.

Jim Scherr:  America is a land of opportunity.  If you work hard enough in America you can achieve your dreams.

Stockwell:  If you have a dream you can do whatever you want.  To go back and represent our country in a different way, the Paralympics would just be, would be the best thing ever.

Flowers: On to Beijing.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)