KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Athletes from all over the world will be in Paris this summer for the 2024 Summer Olympics. After those games are over, some of the best athletes in adaptive sports will go to Paris to compete in the 2024 Paralympics, competing in summer sports like swimming, track and field and basketball.
"Para athletes" are athletes with a disability who perform in sports using a wheelchair or other aids. East Tennessee has a number of Para athletes, including Carly Pearson and Matthew Porterfield. The two have competed on the world stage of adapted sports and walked away with medals and other accolades.
Both were helped by the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Services in Knoxville and have custom-built cycles that they use. Porterfield said he started using a wheelchair when he was 18 years old, after a dirt bike crash.
"I was paralyzed from the chest, down," he said. "Patricia Neal (Rehabilitation Services) was very big for getting out and helping me get on my own. Helped with travel."
His racing chair weighs around 15 lbs., but Porterfield is still lightning-fast on it. He said it took him a year to learn his hand speed and develop the strength he needed to compete. Now, he said he's competed in his racing chair for around 25 years.
He went to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the 2007 Parapan American Games.
"Going to Brazil was an eye-opener, being on the team was an eye-opener. It was a great time, and I cherish every minute that I went," he said. "You can still do stuff. There's something out there you can do. Put your mind to it, put your mind to it. I still travel the world and do sports."
Pearson also said adaptive sports helped her overcome mental hurdles after an incident in 2002 while water-skiing. She said Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Services helped lead her towards cycling, where she found strength.
"Cycling was the one I was more successful at. I'm pretty much retired from the national spotlight with the racing, don't really have a lot of time between life, kids and work to travel and do the elite level races, but cycling was the top of the food chain for me in sports," she said. "Once you get to that level you're looking for the next time for yourself. How can you improve you? There's a team aspect. When you get to the nationals, you have to help push another teammate, but for the most part, it's a self-driven sport."
She collected five national para-cycling medals, along with medals in the triathlon and para-climbing. Now, she's a busy mother who may not race like she once did, but is still going strong.
"I would say, again, don't tell yourself, 'No.' There's always hope you can do more and do better. It's not going to be built in a day. Work towards it and set smaller goals to achieve that larger goal," she said.