When Paris won the bid in 2017 to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the Associated Press reported that 100% of its bus routes and tram lines were already wheelchair accessible, and that €125 million would be allocated to further the efforts to ensure transit was more fully accessible. City Hall invested in the creation of 17 “enhanced accessibility districts” in which public facilities and shops are adapted with ramps, tactile strips, and designated parking spots for people with disabilities. And while the city still has much to do to achieve true access for all, the Paralympics are in full swing with more than 4,000 athletes participating in 549 events. Here, we will highlight some New York and New Jersey Paralympians. Let the games begin!
Lee Fredette, Wheelchair Rubgy
After training for the last couple of months in Arizona, Lee Fredette was feeling “pumped to get started” on his last off day before flying to Paris from his home in New York. Fredette is excited to feed off the energy of the crowd at the Paralympics. In 2016 at the Rio Paralympics, Fredette shared, “They would come down, want your autograph, or [take] selfies with you. So, it kind of gave you a tiny look into what it’s like to be a celebrity.”
At age 19, when exploring a new water hole at the end of an old trail, Fredette rode his family’s dirt bike into a pile of leaves that had hidden bricks and debris. He hit his head and broke his neck. “After that, I had felt like I lost my athlete identity,” said Fredette. But then he saw the 2005 documentary “Murderball” about wheelchair rugby.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that it saved my life,” Fredette said. “I started going back to school again, I started competing, I had goals, and I knew that there was kind of a life in a wheelchair.” As a quadriplegic, he said that the movie showed him “a sport made for me, made for us, designed for quadriplegics.”
Team USA’s wheelchair rugby team is a powerhouse that has medaled every year, but their last gold medal was Beijing in 2008. Fredette, a two-time silver medalist, said of the gold: “I believe we’re chasing it. It’s been a while since we’ve been at the top, always second and third. So, this year is the year we’re going to change it.”
Victoria Isaacson, Wheelchair Fencing
“In the realest of terms: it was either die, or be miserable, or persevere,” said Victoria Isaacson, a New Yorker who is a passionate parafencer and occupational therapist. After fencing for seven years, Isaacson suffered back-to-back injuries her senior year of high school that led to her diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a relatively rare genetic condition that affects connective tissue. She remembers ending up in the hospital after collapsing from seizure-like activity during a national qualifier match.
“I could barely walk and was frequently plagued by severe neurologic symptoms,” Isaacson said. If it wasn’t for her coach, who didn’t let her quit, she would’ve lost her largest support network. Although Isaacson was “elated” to find out that she had qualified for Paris, she recognizes that it is important to not overwork herself. To Isaacson, wheelchair fencing is a platform for her to become the athlete she always could be, but medals are never really on her mind. “I never approach competitions with the mindset to win,” Isaacson said. “I approach it with [the goal that] I am going to do my best and results will come with time.”
Todd Vogt, Para-Rowing
Todd Vogt, a rower from New York, was in Boston for the whole summer practicing hard with his teammate. He started rowing competitively in college, but after his stroking technique (which took him 20 years to perfect) slowed and started to feel weird at the 2017 Head of the Charles Regatta competition, he felt he was “done.”
“I can’t imagine I can compete anymore,” he said of how he felt at the time. But in 2018, Vogt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and the Paralympics gave him a new opportunity to “go for it.” Vogt has been “on a freaking mission” for the past six years, getting back to his original numbers, making the national team, and being “one step up” each time. Since then, he has come in sixth, then fifth, and won silver in last year’s World Championships in Belgrade. Now, he’s looking to add a gold medal to his resume as a first time official Paralympic competitor. Vogt was an alternate for Tokyo 2020, but now, “it’s pretty crazy, kind of surreal” to be in Paris.
“I’m definitely on a mission to come home with a medal,” Vogt asserted. And if he does? “I’ll lose my mind. I’ll probably jump out a boat, honestly, swim to shore,” he said with a fist pump.
Catarina Guimarães, Para Track and Field
Catarina Guimarães, from New Jersey, was born with cerebral palsy (CP), which affects her motor skills. But when she’s on the track, opponents better not get too confident, because Guimarães is going to catch them. Guimarães is one of the three Team USA runners representing the tri-state area. Prior to track and field, Guimarães took on several other sports. She is a second-degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Para-Indoor Rock Climbing Medalist, and a CP Soccer MVP and World Cup Winner.
Guimarães often likes to think of herself as a “snake who is constantly shedding skin and growing new ones and constantly evolving,” because, as she says, “I love the learning of the skills.” All thanks to her disability and the motivation of her big, strong younger brother, she runs every day with a goal to reach another level of greatness and strongly represent her “tiny, but mighty state of New Jersey.” Guimarães is ready to compete: “I’m excited to give it my best shot on the Paralympic level and excited to fight for some medals.”
Watch the Paralympics through September 8 on NBC, USA, and Peacock.