The United States Paralympic team had the third highest medal count in Paris this summer. They earned 105 medals, 36 of them gold. China had the most, 220 medals, 94 of which were gold, while Great Britain finished second in the medal count, 124, of which 49 were gold.
Two New York Paralympians, wheelchair basketball player Steve Serio of Westbury, New York, and sitting volleyball player Lora Webster of Point Lookout, New York, talked to Able News by phone after both of their teams won Paralympic gold a third straight time.
Steve Serio
Prior to playing wheelchair basketball, Serio had no idea that he would become a three-time Paralympic gold medalist. When he was 11 months old, he needed surgery to have a spinal tumor removed. That procedure resulted in the compression of his spinal cord, which led to his paralysis. Learning about wheelchair basketball made a great difference in his life.
At midnight on September 8th, the wheelchair basketball medal ceremony took place. As Serio received his gold medal, he turned 37 years old.
“It was a wonderful way to kick off my 37th year on this planet,” said Serio. “It was great to share that special moment with family and friends who were in the stands and with my teammates.”
When the U.S. beat Great Britain 73-69 in the gold medal match, Serio scored 24 points; he also had 10 rebounds, and eight assists. What made that game monumental for Serio was that it was his last as a Paralympian.
“I’m now retired,” said Serio. “I’ve done all that I wanted to do in wheelchair basketball. Now I want to give back.” He plans to promote the Paralympic movement. “The single most influential moment of my life was when I found wheelchair basketball,” said Serio. “I want to bring that moment to kids with disabilities, to the next generation.”
Lora Webster
After Webster and her teammates beat China in the gold medal match, a reporter gave her exciting news. She was told that she had more volleyball blocks than any of the other women sitting volleyball Paralympians—a total of 22. Webster even had more blocks than all the male sitting volleyball Paralympians in Paris.
For those unfamiliar, in order to compete in sitting volleyball, athletes can be amputees or have loss of muscular strength or flexibility in a joint. Being unable to walk is not a requirement to be on a sitting volleyball team. No more than six sitting volleyball players from one team can be on the court at the same time, and no sitting volleyball team can have more than a 12-player roster.
Webster qualified to be a sitting volleyball player due to being diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her left tibia when she was 11 years old. She later underwent a procedure known as rotationplasty to remove the cancerous bone. As part of the procedure, her lower leg was rotated 180 degrees and connected to the remnants of the femur to give her full range of movement and allow her to play sports. She did not have a knee replacement, nor does she use a wheelchair. She does, however, wear a prosthetic.
Webster said that she and her teammates were confident about winning gold a third straight time, even when they had their only loss; China beat them in the preliminary round, but that did not discourage the U.S. women’s sitting volleyball team.
“We’re not a team that plays its best at the start,” said Webster. “We play our best at the end when it counts. The loss (to China) wasn’t a big deal; it didn’t shake us at all.” The team faced some challenges off the court when they moved into the Paralympics village, Webster shared. “We had a bunch of illnesses. Some teammates had COVID, others had broken bones; some had E. coli.” But the team persevered.
When Webster vied for Paralympic gold in 2021 in Tokyo, she was pregnant.
“I had to be cautious about my stomach area,” said Webster. “This time I didn’t have to worry about it. … It was great to have more energy this time.”
Webster hopes to qualify for the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
“After that, I’m retiring,” said Webster. “I want to end my career on U.S. soil.”