As a continuation of the two-part series of behind the scenes at the Paralympics, this article focuses on the medals that the athlete’s won, as well as their impressions of the Games after having competed. The four athletes previously interviewed, Sabrina Duchesne, Mikaela Jenkins, Ahalya Lettenberger, and Tully Kearney continued their stories in this section. Impressively, each of the athletes won one or more medals in their respective races, their hard work and dedication paid off and between the four athletes, they collectively won six Paralympic medals in Tokyo!
Sabrina:
Mikaela:
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Tully:
Ahalya:
Question: How would you describe the moment you found out that you won a medal?
Sabrina: I really wasn’t expecting it since we finished fifth so I got ready to go and see the media and go warm down but then the girls on the team started screaming! I saw the board and then I started crying. It was a night full of emotion.
Mikaela: Just pure relief. I was very stressed out about those couple of races. I was walking in as the reigning world champion and I just wanted to make sure that I kept that title and was able to upgrade it to Paralympic champion. By the time I touched and made sure my name was beside the number one, I was so relieved that I was done.
Ahalya: When I first touched the wall and was still in the pool, that was when I felt the emotions the most. I didn’t even know I could feel that way after a swim but being there and realizing everything that led up to that moment had paid off made me emotional.
Question: Was the medal ceremony everything you dreamed it to be?
Sabrina: Yes of course it was, but because of the protest, the ceremony was the day after our race so it was still fun but we were tired. I was very hyped to get the medal, but I still haven’t realized or processed what has happened.
Mikaela: Yeah definitely, I mean I was standing there thinking, “Oh my gosh, I’ve been thinking about this moment for five years and it’s finally here.” It honestly didn’t really hit me until the last day, we had one more swimmer and one more medal ceremony, the national anthem was playing and I just sat there and thought, “I’m done.” It all hit me at that moment.
Tully: As soon as I got out of the pool there were only 5-10 minutes until the medal ceremony and you had to get through 10-20 people who wanted to interview you. So you get to the waiting room for the medal ceremony and you don’t have time to feel excited. Because of COVID, we had to put our own medals on which I found really difficult due to my impairment affecting my hand function. Actually, I still don’t know which way is the front and which way is the back of the medal.
Question: Where did you keep your medal for the flight home?
Sabrina: We got a little fanny pack from Team Canada to keep our medal in. First I put it in my suitcase and then my manager and teammates said to carry it on with me instead, in case my luggage got lost.
Mikaela: I actually put it in my backpack and carried it on because I didn’t want it to get lost in my checked luggage and I knew that I might need to pull it out for security. I pulled it out for the first time we went through security but a friend of mine didn’t, and they didn’t stop her so I didn’t pull mine out for immigration security.
Tully: In my hand luggage, hidden in a box in my rucksack. I didn’t have to take them out for security, they actually weren’t bothered with them. They were just bothered about the battery for my wheelchair, it took them 30 minutes to decide it was safe.
Ahalya: I kept it in my carry on, they gave me a case for it. I saw some people wearing their medals but I decided not to. I didn’t realize that I had to take it out through security until I went through the Japanese security and the security guard asked if I had won a medal and so I just casually took it out.
To give more visibility to the Paralympics, the athletes were asked about what isn’t covered in the mainstream media that they would like the world to know more about.
Question: What goes on behind the scenes that people watching from home would not be aware of?
Sabrina: The Village is so hard to explain if you’ve never been to the Paralympics. You are staying in an apartment with just your friends which is so fun. Everywhere you go, you only see athletes, and they are all people who look like you. Disability becomes the majority instead of the minority and it is just such an amazing feeling.
Mikaela: Other than the whole call room process, the whole Village is also behind the scenes. All you see on television are the lights and the athletes walking out but there is a lot of sitting, waiting, nervousness, stretching and moving around that happens before you walk out.
Tully: There was a performance floor with physios and doctors, which you don’t see, it’s in a little room off the side of the training pool. There are actually three pools in that venue which is crazy – and they’re all 50m, 10 lane pools.
Ahalya: Just the entire Village experience. Obviously winning the medal was amazing, but what I enjoyed the most was living in the Village and knowing that I was surrounded by the best athletes in the world. You just think about everything it took for everyone to get there and how everyone has a different story. Especially with the Paralympics it’s incredible to be there because for once in our lives we aren’t the minority and it’s something that I wish everyone with a disability could experience. It really is the world coming together and embracing diversity, it’s a feeling that I can’t even explain, it’s just ultimate belonging.
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Question: What is something that is often not covered in the media that you would want the world to know about the Paralympics?
Sabrina: Having the same support and visibility as the Olympics in general would lead to people seeing how great the athletes are.
Mikaela: I really think I would want people to know that a lot of the time they view the Parlympics as a bit of a pity event. Like, “Oh well, let them have this just because they work hard.” But if our able-bodied Olympians also had disabilities, they would be in the exact same position that we are. So just knowing that and understanding that, and realizing that there is a difference between the Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Special Olympics. Also, making sure that if you see it on your screen, you don’t just automatically discount it and that you give it the full recognition that it deserves.
Tully: One thing that is not shown too much, is that for me, I started swimming as someone with a minimum impairment and then as my conditions got worse, because dystonia is progressive, I’ve gone from being one of the least impaired, to one of the more impaired athletes. Even though I knew athletes who were much more severely disabled than I was, I never really knew how much extra support they needed and how much goes into getting a high support needs athlete to an event. Most of the public would have no idea how hard it is for athletes with greater levels of impairments to be able to compete.
Ahalya: I feel like the message of the Paralympics often gets forgotten. I think that the Paralympics is about this community of people with disabilities coming together and embracing diversity and embracing ourselves and getting to compete at this elite level against people just like them. We rarely get the opportunity to compete against other people with disabilities. The Paralympics is equivalent to the Olympics, we train and compete just like Olympians, we are elite athletes and it is a sporting event that few people get the opportunity to attend.
Question: Lastly, for younger para-athletes, how would you like to see your path to the Paralympics become more accessible to them?
Mikaela: Right now classification spots are one of the biggest limitations to para-swimming in the USA. To be classified, you need to be put on a waitlist and a lot of times the veterans are given priority and the rookies get pushed aside. I think that if we had more para-meets around the country that offer classification spots, we would get more awareness, and also get more athletes filling those spots and wanting to be classified. If my coach didn’t tell me that para swimming existed, I never would’ve been classified and wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
Tully: Until I was 13, I didn’t know about parasport, it’s a lot more well known now, but there still needs to be awareness around how to access disability sport events. I was the first paraswimmer to gain a scholarship on the elite swim programme at my private boarding school and have had a scholarship for university, for both my undergraduate and Master’s degree. This needs to be made more available to para-athletes so they can combine training with achieving qualifications and skills for their post-sport lives.
Ahalya: I really just want the Paralympics to gain more attention and advocacy because a lot of athletes with disabilities don’t even know about the Paralympics. Also, I took a path to the Paralympics through collegiate swimming which is sadly the road less taken, even though most Olympic swimmers swam in college. So I really hope that collegiate sports in general can become more accessible for para-athletes. All the Olympic swimmers have the opportunity to swim in college, I want that to be the case for athletes with disabilities.
A special thanks to each of the athlete’s interviewed, Sabrina Duchesne, Mikaela Jenkins, Tully Kearney, and Ahalya Lettenberger. Keep your eyes peeled for them at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games!
