Published 16:37 21 Jul 2021 GMT
A deaf-blind Paralympian has quit Team USA after she was denied essential accommodation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Becca Meyers, 26, a three-time gold medalist, revealed on Tuesday, July 20, that she is dropping out of the games because the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee denied her request to bring her personal care assistant, CBS News reports.
"I'm angry, I'm disappointed, but most of all, I'm sad to not be representing my country," she said in a statement on social media.
"The USOPC has denied a reasonable & essential accommodation for me, as a deaf-blind athlete, to be able to compete in Tokyo, telling me repeatedly that I do not need a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) 'who I trust' because there will be a single PCA on staff that is available to assist me and 33 other Paralympic swimmers, 9 of whom are also visually impaired," Meyers wrote.
Meyers explained that she was previously allowed to bring her assistant, who is also her mother, to all of the international meets that she has competed in since 2017.
While the athlete acknowledges that new protective measures had to be put in place because of the ongoing pandemic, she said that the presence of a trusted assistant is "essential" for her to compete.
"So, in 2021, why as a disabled person am I still fighting for my rights?" she added. "I'm speaking up for future generations of Paralympic athletes in hope that they never have to experience the pain I've been through. Enough is enough."
The swimmer has a rare condition known as Usher syndrome that causes sufferers to experience hearing loss and visual impairment.
The Daily Mail reports that as a result of her condition, Meyers finds it difficult to lip-read and make her way around new surroundings, which is why her mother's role as her care assistant was so essential to her participation in the games.
Meyers is a two-time Paralympian who has three gold medals and multiple world championships to her name.
The committee said in a statement to The Washington Post that they are dealing with "unprecedented restrictions around what is possible on the ground in Tokyo."
Published 15:41 27 Jul 2021 GMT
Paralympians are to be paid the same as Olympians for winning medals for the first time in history.
Efforts to change the fees paid to Paralympians began in September 2018, the International Paralympic Committee reports, and such changes were first applied to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea - but this is the first time they will have been a part of the main event.
United States Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a press statement about the decision: "Paralympians are an integral part of our athlete community and we need to ensure we're appropriately rewarding their accomplishments.
"Our financial investment in U.S. Paralympics and the athletes we serve is at an all-time high, but this was one area where a discrepancy existed in our funding model that we felt needed to change."
Under the new rules, athletes will receive $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze.
To put the magnitude of this change into context, in the past, Paralympians received $7,500 for gold, $5,250 for silver, and $3,750 for bronze.
However, despite this huge step forward being taken for Paralympic athletes, the Tokyo 2020 games have not been without controversy for them.
Last week, deaf-blind Paralympian Becca Meyers was forced to pull out of this year's games because she was unable to bring her own care assistant.
Becca Meyers, 26, a three-time gold medalist, made the revelation on Tuesday, July 20, on Instagram.
"I'm angry, I'm disappointed, but most of all, I'm sad to not be representing my country," she said in a statement.
"The USOPC has denied a reasonable & essential accommodation for me, as a deaf-blind athlete, to be able to compete in Tokyo, telling me repeatedly that I do not need a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) 'who I trust' because there will be a single PCA on staff that is available to assist me and 33 other Paralympic swimmers, 9 of whom are also visually impaired."
The athlete then explained that she has previously brought her mother, who is her care assistant, to every international meet that she has attended since 2017.
She explained that while she understood that are limits on the number of people who can attend the games because of the ongoing pandemic, she said that having her mother there was "essential" to her care.
ESPN reports that there will be just one personal care assistant available to help the 34 athletes on the US Paralympic swimming team.
Published 15:00 30 Sep 2021 GMT
Simone Biles has compared her recent mental health struggles at the Tokyo Olympics to suddenly going blind and being expected to work as normal.
In July, the 24-year-old Olympic champion withdrew from the women's team all-around gymnastics final at the Games, with Team USA Gymnastics citing an unspecified "medical issue".
The following day, it was reported that she was also pulling out of the final individual all-around gymnastics competition in order to "focus on her mental health."
She later explained that she was suffering from what is known as the "twisties", a kind of mental block where a person's mind and body are not in sync, and as a result, they have less control over their movements.
Now, in a new interview with The Cut, Biles explained the phenomenon further by using the analogy of waking up to find that you can no longer see.
She told the publication: "Say up until you're 30 years old, you have your complete eyesight. One morning, you wake up, you can't see s***, but people tell you to go on and do your daily job as if you still have your eyesight. You'd be lost, wouldn't you?
"That's the only thing I can relate it to. I have been doing gymnastics for 18 years. I woke up - lost it. How am I supposed to go on with my day?"
After withdrawing from most of her individual events, Biles did manage to compete in the balance beam event, for which she received a bronze medal. She also earned a silver medal as part of the team event.
Also in her interview with The Cut, Biles recalled seeing a therapist in the lead-up to the Games this past summer and said she felt sure at the time that she was mentally strong enough to compete.
She did add, though, that she found the impact of Covid-19 on the Olympics difficult to get accustomed to.
Biles continued: "[The therapist] was like, 'Yes, you're good enough to go and do your stuff, but you have to come back.' And I was like, 'Nah, I'm good.'"
"There was no crowd, no parents," she said, referring to the recent Olympic Games. "I was not physically capable. Every avenue we tried, my body was like, 'Simone, chill. Sit down. We're not doing it.' And I've never experienced that."
Published 16:03 31 Jul 2021 GMT
An unvaccinated Team USA swimmer at the Tokyo Olympic Games is reportedly under review after refusing to wear a mask for interviews.
Michael Andrew, 22, made the decision to join his teammates in Japan without any protection against Covid-19.
This week, the Olympic swimmer came under fire for answering reporters' questions without wearing any sort of face covering.
On Friday, July 30, Andrew came in fifth place in the men's 200-meter individual medley. Following the medley, he went into the "mixed zone", where reporters chat to athletes about their performance.
When USA Today Sports asked the Olympian why he had chosen not to wear a mask, unlike his more cautious Team USA athletes, he responded: "For me, it's pretty hard to breathe in after kind of sacrificing my body in the water, so I feel like my health is a little more tied to being able to breathe than protecting what's coming out of my mouth.
"I think it's great that there are procedures, but at the end of the day, all of us here have been under quarantine and in the same testing protocol, so there's a level of safety [that's] comfortable when we're racing."
USA Today Sports then stated that after it published a tweet about Andrew from its official account, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee told the outlet that choosing not to put on a mask violates their rules and regulations.
The US committee stated, per USA Today Sports: "Not wearing a mask is a violation of the COVID mitigation protocols put in place by both the USOPC and TOCOG (the Tokyo Olympic organizers) – protocols we have been adamant in following as a delegation.
"We are currently reviewing this matter with the National Governing Body and will take action as needed."
However, according to the publication, the organization's position on the matter became unclear after it later stated that Andrew "has been reminded of the Games policy and established Covid mitigation protocols," but is permitted to remain maskless while speaking to journalists.
As reported by Associated Press, there are certain protocols in place so that those present at the events are able to stay safe. AP reports that while wearing a mask is not obligatory in the "mixed zone", most athletes do tend to wear them.
Published 16:03 24 Aug 2021 GMT
A blind teenage Paralympic swimmer has opened up about the importance of her guide dog.
Per TODAY, Anastasia Pagonis, who will represent the United States at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this year, first lost her sight when she was just 14 years old.
But she found an outlet to excel in with swimming and was eventually selected to join the Paralympic team training in Colorado last year.
She was also given an adorable golden Labrador named Radar by the Guide Dog Foundation. The pair trained together for several hours each morning at her home for 10 days before officially teaming up last summer.
Pagonis first shared an image of herself and Radar in a sweet post in August last year.
Alongside the snap, the athlete wrote: "I’m so excited to introduce you all to Radar, my guide dog! I’m so thankful and blessed to have received him as my guide dog from @guidedogfoundation and @ny_islanders."
She also stated that Radar had been named by fans after the legendary Islander coach Al Arbour, and had attended many Olympic events, adding:
"Radar is so smart and amazing I'm so excited to help him adjust from the ice to the pool! Definitely a little athlete himself."
Commenting on her relationship with the animal in a recent interview with the above publication, Pagonis stated: "Having Radar has just given me so much independence and I’m literally in love with him. He's the best thing ever. We're a match made in heaven.
"If I didn’t have Radar, I would have to glide against the wall and bump into a bunch of things and it would honestly be pretty impossible for me to find the elevator without asking for help because I have no eyes. So he's pretty much like my eyes."
Radar has been a hit with the other athletes as well, and Pagonis added that she has been inspired by her amazing dog to win gold in Tokyo for her "golden puppy."
Published 11:40 23 Jul 2021 GMT
People are praising Paralympian Jessica Long for opening up about being shamed for using handicapped parking spots despite being an amputee in a video earlier this year.
The Paralympic Games begin in just over a month's time, and one of the competition's biggest stars, 29-year-old Jessica, is proving herself not only to be a fine athlete - but an outspoken activist.
The swimmer, who has competed at four Paralympic Games and won 23 medals, had originally taken to TikTok in January to share an incident in which a lady scolded her for using the handicapped-accessible parking spot - despite her having a disabled person parking permit.
Check out the resurfaced video below:In the video, which currently has one million likes, the athlete told her followers that when she was parking, a lady in another vehicle made assumptions about her in a matter of moments.
Jessica has fibular hemimilia, which means she was born without her lower legs. And when she was just a year old, her adoptive parents had her undergo leg amputation so she could learn how to walk using prosthetic legs.
Despite this, the lady told Jessica that she shouldn't be parking in the handicapped spot - but when the swimmer informed her that she doesn't actually have legs, the woman "just drove away."
The gold medal-winner went on to comment on how regularly the "handicap police" interfere when she is simply trying to park in a spot that she is perfectly eligible for.
Jessica added: "I was never bullied as a kid and I didn’t know that I was going to be bullied by adults because I park in handicap. And I get it. I’m young, I’m athletic, but I’m also missing legs! And I know I make it look easy, but it’s still really hard. My legs are heavy, they hurt me. I’m in pain."
A number of commenters have taken to the post to praise Jessica while also condemning the woman - and those like her - for making baseless assumptions about her right to use the disabled parking space.
This certainly isn't the only time, the Paralympian has taken to social media to talk about the challenges that come with parking in a handicapped spot - even as a disabled person.
Last September, she told her followers: "I get two to four comments per week, just going about my normal routine and parking in handicap spaces.
"I’ve had people yell at me, leave notes on my windshield, knock on my car window, or wait for me to get out of my car just to tell me I can’t park there."
"My worst experience to date was an older couple that followed me around a grocery store and kept making comments because they wanted the handicap spot I took and said that I didn’t need it. I even explained I had two prosthetic legs and they told me I was a liar," she added.
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