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At 23, Tatyana McFadden is already a veteran Paralympian. The first international wheelchair racing competition she entered was the Athens Games in 2004, when she was 15, winning a silver medal in the 100m and a bronze in the 200m. In Beijing, she took home three silvers and a bronze. This year, older and stronger, she hopes to add a gold medal to her haul.
She is in with a good chance. Last year, she won four gold medals at the IPC World Championships and won the Chicago marathon. At London 2012, she will be competing in the 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and marathon: "so my training has been varied. In the autumn I concentrate on marathon training; in the spring I concentrated on track work. I go to the gym a lot to build strength." She says she is happy with how it has gone. "The training has always been pretty tough, and you have your hard days but that just makes you stronger."
Born in St Petersburg, McFadden spent the first six years of her life in a Russian orphanage. She was born with spina bifida, a condition that affects the development of the spine and resulted in paralysis, and the orphanage didn't have a wheelchair for her to use. In 1994, Debbie McFadden, then commissioner of disabilities for the US health department, visited the orphanage and decided to adopt Tatyana.
In the US, she was encouraged to become more active to build her strength and found competitive sport suited her character. "I did many different sports – wheelchair basketball, archery, swimming. When I started racing, it was a natural fit for me. "I like the speed, and the competition and I love the training, no matter how tough it is," she says.
McFadden is known to her teammates as Beast. "At first I wasn't sure about it," she says. "It's kind of a manly name, but it stuck. I got it after my win for my first marathon, about how strong I was and how fast I could climb hills."
While she took to sport naturally, it wasn't easy for her to participate. She successfully sued Maryland state for equal access to sport at her high school after a lawsuit lasting four years. "All I wanted to do in high school was get involved in sport and be on a par with my peers," she says. "That was a very tough battle but it was worth fighting for because it gave other people the opportunity to do sport." One of them, she points out, is her younger sister, Hannah, who will be racing against her in the 100m. "I think the law has been passed in 15 other states now," she says. "It was like a domino effect. There are a lot more disabled athletes out there, and it's all about starting locally – that's how Paralympic sport will grow, if you allow people to get involved."
Article by "Miss.Emine Saner"
She is in with a good chance. Last year, she won four gold medals at the IPC World Championships and won the Chicago marathon. At London 2012, she will be competing in the 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and marathon: "so my training has been varied. In the autumn I concentrate on marathon training; in the spring I concentrated on track work. I go to the gym a lot to build strength." She says she is happy with how it has gone. "The training has always been pretty tough, and you have your hard days but that just makes you stronger."
Born in St Petersburg, McFadden spent the first six years of her life in a Russian orphanage. She was born with spina bifida, a condition that affects the development of the spine and resulted in paralysis, and the orphanage didn't have a wheelchair for her to use. In 1994, Debbie McFadden, then commissioner of disabilities for the US health department, visited the orphanage and decided to adopt Tatyana.
In the US, she was encouraged to become more active to build her strength and found competitive sport suited her character. "I did many different sports – wheelchair basketball, archery, swimming. When I started racing, it was a natural fit for me. "I like the speed, and the competition and I love the training, no matter how tough it is," she says.
McFadden is known to her teammates as Beast. "At first I wasn't sure about it," she says. "It's kind of a manly name, but it stuck. I got it after my win for my first marathon, about how strong I was and how fast I could climb hills."
While she took to sport naturally, it wasn't easy for her to participate. She successfully sued Maryland state for equal access to sport at her high school after a lawsuit lasting four years. "All I wanted to do in high school was get involved in sport and be on a par with my peers," she says. "That was a very tough battle but it was worth fighting for because it gave other people the opportunity to do sport." One of them, she points out, is her younger sister, Hannah, who will be racing against her in the 100m. "I think the law has been passed in 15 other states now," she says. "It was like a domino effect. There are a lot more disabled athletes out there, and it's all about starting locally – that's how Paralympic sport will grow, if you allow people to get involved."
Article by "Miss.Emine Saner"
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