Bronze in discus – Church News
USA’s David Blair won bronze in the men’s discus F64 classification on Thursday, Sept. 5, in the 2024 Paris Paralympics. In wheelchair basketball, Team USA, including Paul Schulte, is going to the gold-medal match.
Other athletes with ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints competed in the long jump, swimming and canoeing.
Here are updates on those competitions.
Track and field
Blair, 48, of Eagle Mountain, Utah, was third in discus with a throw of 57.76 meters. USA’s Jeremy Campbell, F64 classification, won gold with a throw of 61.14 meters, which is a personal best, and Akeem Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago, F43 classification, won silver with a throw of 59.66 meters, which is a season’s best. Each athlete gets six throws and uses the longest one.
In Paris, athletes with F43, F44 and F64 classifications competed together, and they include those with lower-limb deficiencies in one or both legs or the absence of legs below the knee. Blair was born with a club foot.
Paris is the third Paralympics for Blair. He was high school state champion in discus and received an athletics scholarship to Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, setting records along the way. He picked up Paralympic competition after 16 years and then qualified to compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.
Blair became the Paralympic record holder in Rio and set the world record in 2021. Both still stand. He won gold at both the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris and the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
Also at the Stad de France stadium, on Thursday, Lindi Marcusen competed in the women’s long jump, T63 classification, and was eighth overall with a jump of 4.37 meters. Each athlete gets six jumps and uses the best one.
In Paris, athletes with T42, T61 and T63 classifications competed together, and they included those with movement affected in one leg or the absence of legs above the knee.
This is the first Paralympics for 28-year-old Marcusen of Spokane, Washington. Marcusen was in a car accident in 2017 that resulted in amputation of her right leg. She competed in gymnastics from elementary to high school, according to her Team USA profile. Marcusen is also a BYU–Idaho alumna.
Marcusen is also competing in the women’s 100-meter T63 race on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Wheelchair basketball
Team USA, including Schulte, will be playing for the gold medal against Great Britain on Saturday, Sept. 7. On Thursday, Sept. 5, Team USA beat Canada 80-43 in the semifinals. Canada led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, and then USA outscored Canada in the next three quarters.
The U.S. will play Great Britain at Bercy Arena on Saturday, Sept. 7, 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time/21:30 Paris Time.
Paris is Schulte’s fourth Paralympics — and the first after once retiring in 2015. He competed in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia; the 2008 Games in Beijing, China; and in 2012, when the Games were in London, England, winning bronze.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he took up handcycling, building muscle and losing weight. This year, he decided to try competitive wheelchair basketball again and was invited to try out for the national team.
Shulte had a spinal cord injury in a car accident at age 10 and gave wheelchair basketball a try when he was 14. He currently serves in the bishopric in his Florida ward, and he and his wife have one son.
Wheelchair basketball players are classified based on their available movement, from 1 to 4.5. The five players must not be more than 14 combined. Schulte’s classification is 3.0.
Wheelchair basketball games consist of four 10-minute periods and overtime in the event of a tie, according to Paralympic.org. The court, hoop and backboards are the same dimensions as Olympic basketball, and the scoring is the same, with a point for each free throw, two points for baskets inside the three-point line and three points from outside the three-point line. Players must pass or bounce the ball after every two pushes, and there isn’t a double-dribble rule.
Canoe
New Zealand’s Peter Cowan was second in the men’s va’a single 200-meter VL3 heats on Friday, Sept. 6. The winners of the two preliminary heats advanced to finals and all others will compete in the semifinals. The top three in each semifinal advance to the finals. The semifinals and finals are on Sunday, Sept. 8.
The para va’a is a rudderless outrigger canoe that has a pontoon as a support float, and the competitor uses a single-blade paddle. The VL3 category is for those with lower-body impairments.
The 2024 Paris Games are the first Paralympics for 29-year-old Cowan. He won silver at the International Canoe Federation Para Canoe World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, finishing 0.071 seconds behind first place, reported Paralympics New Zealand.
When he was 15, the rugby player was training for the Iron Maori triathlon when his bike was clipped by an oncoming car. Later, his right leg had to be amputated above his knee. When he was 17, he was invited to a waka ama, or Maori outrigger canoe, training session.
He served a mission in Japan and Australia, and he and his wife are the parents of two boys.
Swimming
In the pool in the Paris La Defense Arena, New Zealand’s Tupou Neiufi was 10th overall in the 50-meter freestyle heats S8 (for physical impairments) on Thursday, Sept. 5. She was sixth in her heat with 33.40 seconds. The eight fastest of the 14 swimmers in the two heats qualified for the final.
Paris is the third Paralympic Games for Neiufi. The 23-year-old won gold in the 100-meter backstroke S8 in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. She also swam in the 50-meter freestyle. She was initially an alternate for the New Zealand team headed to the Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. After a teammate’s injury, she joined the team and swam in three races.
When Neifu was 2 years old, she was involved in a hit-and-run accident that resulted in brain bruising and left-side paralysis. She had to relearn how to sit, walk and use her arms. She first tried netball and then swimming to help her after the accident. She began swimming at 10 years old and competing at 11.
Upcoming competitions
USA’s wheelchair basketball team, including Schulte, will play Great Britain at Bercy Arena on Saturday, Sept. 7, 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time/21:30 Paris Time.
On the track, Marcusen is competing in the women’s 100-meter T63 race on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Swimmer Alejandra Aybar of the Dominican Republic will compete in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S7 (for physical impairments) on Saturday, Sept. 7.
For Cowan in the men’s va’a single 200-meter race, the semifinals and finals are on Sunday, Sept. 8.