Following the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 28, the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games will feature 11 days of high-stakes competition between some of the world's most incredible athletes. The Paralympics will be broadcast on NBC, USA Network, and CNBC, and streamed live and on-demand on NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Sports app and on Peacock.
Here are some standouts from the U.S. Paralympic team to watch.
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Sarah Adam, Wheelchair Rugby
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Adam became the first-ever woman to win a gold medal with USA Wheelchair Rugby during the Parapan American Games in 2023. Ready to make history in Paris, she will be the first American woman to ever compete in wheelchair rugby at the Paralympics. Adam was first introduced to the sport nicknamed “murderball” while working as an able-bodied volunteer for a wheelchair rugby team in St. Louis. In 2016, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“It’s important to show that females can compete in adaptive sports,” Adam said, “even the ones that are typically thought as male-dominated and really physical.”
Olivia Chambers, Para Swimming
Set to make her Paralympic debut in Paris, Chambers won six medals at the 2023 World Championships (four silver, two bronze). She broke five American records during her first season of para swimming, including the record for the S13 400m individual medley. In 2023, she set her first world record in the S13 1500m freestyle.
Chambers started swimming at age 4 and broke her first state record at age 7. She began to lose her ability to see at age 16, and doctors told Chambers she would not regain her eyesight.
“Everyone’s gonna have hard times in life, have hard experiences,” Chambers said. “It’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how you take what happens to you and how you deal with it.”
Dennis Connors, Para Cycling
Connors is a reigning world champion, reigning Parapan American Games gold medalist, and five-time international World Cup winner. The only male tricycle rider on this year's U.S. para cycling team, he is set to make his Paralympic debut in Paris.
Connors, a combat veteran and traumatic brain injury and stroke survivor, is still pushing his physical and mental limits. Originally from California, he served nine years in the U.S. Marine Corps, completing three deployments to Iraq. He began cycling in 2016 with Project Hero and attended his first para cycling event in 2019. In 2020, he moved to the trike after having a second stroke.
Ezra Frech, Para Track & Field
Frech recently earned a silver medal at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in the men’s T63 high jump. He also broke his own high jump world record at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Trials. Now, Frech has big plans to take home the gold in Paris.
Frech was born with congenital limb differences — he's missing his left knee and left fibula and a few fingers on his left hand — which resulted in his left leg being amputated. At age 8, he fell in love with track and field. Frech went on to compete at the Tokyo Games as the youngest man on the U.S. Paralympic team across all sports.
Blake Haxton, Para Canoe
Haxton made his Paralympic debut at the Rio Games in 2016. That year he was named the U.S. Rowing Male Athlete of the Year, becoming the first-ever para athlete to win the award.
At the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, Haxton earned silver in the canoe single VL2 200m. He is gearing up for his third Paralympic appearance and renewing his focus on canoeing.
Haxton contracted necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as “the flesh-eating disease,” in the spring of his senior year of high school in Columbus, Ohio. He lost both of his legs below the waist, had major organ failure, and underwent over 20 surgeries. He was kept on a machine to keep him alive so his brother could come home from college to say goodbye, but Haxton kept living.
Jamal Hill, Para Swimming
Hill, who earned a bronze medal during the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, became paralyzed as a young boy when he got the flu. At age 10, he was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neurological condition that affects his peripheral nerves, making simple tasks like walking and running challenging.
With dreams of making it to the Olympics, it was suggested by a friend that he think about Paralympic swimming. Hill realized his disability doesn’t define him; it empowers him. He then went on to become an advocate, mentor, and coach for others living with similar challenges.
“My journey has shown me that acknowledging our challenges and confronting our fears can lead to a life beyond our wildest dreams,” Hill said.
Trevon Jenifer, Wheelchair Basketball
Already a three-time Paralympic medalist — he earned bronze at London 2012 followed by gold at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 — Paris will be Jenifer’s fourth Games. Born with congenital phocomelia, which caused him to be born without legs, he started playing wheelchair basketball at age 4. In high school, he competed against non-disabled athletes as a wrestler and finished third in his weight class at the Maryland state tournament his senior year.
In college at Edinboro University, Jenifer was a three-year captain and two-time All American for the men’s wheelchair basketball team. He had a large pyramid of goals beside his bed, with the top goal on that pyramid reading “Win gold for Team USA.”
Now Jenifer works for the U.S. Secret Service as a personnel security specialist. He is the author of the inspirational autobiography "From the Ground Up."
Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, Sitting Volleyball
Maclay had just arrived in Tokyo for the Paralympic Games in 2021 when she found out she was pregnant with her second child. The women’s sitting volleyball team went on to take home the gold that summer, defeating rival China. For Maclay it was her third Paralympic medal, having also led her team to silver at London 2012 and gold at Rio 2016.
Her mom, Charla, raised her as though she did not have a disability, not wanting her to focus on her limitations. Instead, Maclay — who was born with a club foot and had surgery at only eight months old — was exposed to a variety of sports. She began training with the U.S. Paralympic sitting volleyball team in 2009 at just 12 years old.
Now Maclay owns two small businesses. She runs Flower & Flour with her husband and also designs custom cookies through her business Cookies x Kaleo while raising her two kids.
Derek Loccident, Para Track & Field
In May 2023, Loccident made his stellar international debut at the World Para Athletics Championships, earning a silver medal in the men’s long jump T64 final. In July 2024, he qualified for the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where he will make his Paralympic debut.
Loccident grew up playing football and running track in Oklahoma City. After playing two games as a defensive back at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) during his redshirt sophomore season, his left foot and part of his left leg were severed in a train car accident in September 2018. In 2021, he returned to the field and continued playing football for UCO as a below-the-knee-amputee.
Shortly after his football career ended, Loccident shifted his focus to track and field. He was also the subject of the short film “STEPS” created by the Oklahoma City Thunder about his athletic journey which premiered at the deadCenter Film Festival in June 2023.
Jessica Long, Para Swimming
At only 12 years old, Long was the youngest athlete on the U.S. Paralympic swim team when she made her Paralympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games. She's now a six-time Paralympian and 29-time Paralympic medalist, with 16 of those medals being gold. She most recently won gold at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in both the women’s 100m butterfly S8 and the women’s 200m individual medley SM8, upping her career total to 37 world titles.
At 18 months old, Long’s legs were amputated below the knees. Throughout her life she has been involved in many sports and first joined a competitive swim team at 10 years old. She is a three-time recipient of the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award. Long was also named to Sports Illustrated’s “World’s Best Female Athletes” list and was twice named “Disabled Swimmer of the Year” by Swimming World Magazine.
Grace Norman, Para Triathlon
A two-time Paralympian and three-time Paralympic medalist, Norman won silver at Tokyo 2020 plus a gold and a bronze at Rio 2016 as the youngest member of the para triathlon team. She made history in Rio as the first U.S. athlete to win gold during triathlon’s Paralympic debut. Norman later went on to become a four-time world champion (2016, 2017, 2022, 2023).
Born with congenital constriction band syndrome, Norman had her left leg amputated below the knee as a child. She competed in track and field and cross country in high school, where she became the first female amputee to finish on the podium at a high school track and field state championship.
Justin Phongsavanh, Para Track & Field
Phongsavanh made his debut at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, earning himself a bronze medal in javelin throw F54.
In October 2015, Phongsavanh’s life changed when he and his friend were gunned down in a fast food parking lot, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Originally involved in football, track and field, wrestling, and rugby in high school, he reached out to Adaptive Sports in Iowa and got involved in para track and field. Shortly after, he made the national team and has been representing Team USA ever since.
