Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have an able-bodied equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking.
Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected President Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents only can participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot receive any USATF medal, prize money or score for a team.
Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi is a retired Eritrean-born American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the 2009 New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009, and the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014, becoming the first American man to win each race since 1982 and 1983, respectively. Keflezighi is a graduate of UCLA, where he won four NCAA championships competing for the UCLA Bruins track and field team. He came in fourth in the 2014 New York City Marathon on November 2, 2014, eighth in the 2015 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015, and second in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Dr. Dick Traum is the founder of the Achilles Track Club for disabled athletes. In 1976, he completed the New York City Marathon, becoming the first runner to complete such an event with a prosthetic leg. In the 1980s he became the first amputee to finish a 100 km ultra event, in Poland.
New York Road Runners (NYRR) is a non-profit running organization based in New York City whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. It was founded in 1958 by Ted Corbitt with 47 members and has since grown to a membership of more than 60,000. As of 2012, it was considered to be the premiere running organization in the United States.
Deena Michelle Kastor is an American long-distance runner. She was a holder of American records in the marathon (2006-2022) and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She is also an eight-time national champion in cross country.
Sarah Reinertsen is an American Paralympic triathlete and former track athlete. She was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a bone-growth disorder; her affected leg was amputated above the knee at age seven.
Zoe Koplowitz is a marathon runner who is afflicted with multiple sclerosis and diabetes, an inspirational speaker, and the author of The Winning Spirit—Life Lessons Learned In Last Place. As of and including 2013, Koplowitz has completed a total of 25 New York City Marathons, all of them in last place. Her 33-hour-9-minute run in 2000 set a world record for the longest marathon time in the history of women's running. "The race belongs not only to the swift and strong but to those who keep on running", says Koplowitz.
Captain Andrew James Baldwin, MD, USN is a US Naval Officer, ironman triathlete, television personality, humanitarian, and physician. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he received his bachelor's degree from Duke University and his medical degree from UCSF.
The Gasparilla Distance Classic is a road race which is held in late February or early March on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. Over 30,000 competitors participate each year. It is named after the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which takes place on Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard a few weeks earlier.
Mary Wittenberg is an American sports executive. She is currently President of the EF Education–EasyPost cycling team. She was previously the President and Chief Executive Officer of New York Road Runners (NYRR) through May 18, 2015. Wittenberg oversaw the TCS New York City Marathon and several other races, events, and programs that draw over 300,000 yearly participants.
Tatyana McFadden is an American Paralympic athlete of Russian descent competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games.
Jacqueline Hansen is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on two occasions.
Amy Palmiero-Winters is a below-knee amputee who currently holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States and the ESPN ESPY Award as the top female athlete with a disability in the world.
Move United is an American non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of parasports among youths and adults with physical disabilities. The organization operates community parasports programs via over 150 local chapters across the country. Move United was formed in 2020 as a merger of two organizations; Disabled Sports USA, which was first founded in 1956 and based in Rockville, Maryland, and Adaptive Sports USA, a second organization founded in 1967. Move United is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. As of 2020, the organization operates programs serving 100,000 residents in 43 states. In 2020, the two organizations merged as Move United, introducing a new identity by Superunion. A goal was announced for the organization to serve 90% of the U.S. population with local programs by 2028, in time for the 2028 Summer Paralympics in Los Angeles.
The Cowtown Marathon is an annual marathon held every last weekend in February in Fort Worth, Texas. The two-day activities include two 5Ks, a 10K, the half marathon, marathon and ultra marathon. With 29,000 participants in 2014, the Cowtown is the largest multi-event in Texas.
Atlanta Track Club is a non-profit, running organization for the Atlanta metropolitan area. It hosts over 30 events a year including the Thanksgiving Day Atlanta Half Marathon/5K and the AJC Peachtree Road Race. Atlanta Track Club was established in 1964 and is the second largest running organization in the United States. Its mission is to inspire and engage the community to achieve health and fitness through running.
Samantha Gash is an Australian professional endurance athlete, social entrepreneur, motivational speaker. As an endurance athlete, Gash focuses on long distance expedition runs and adventure races. She is an ambassador to numerous organizations and events including World Vision, Lululemon Athletica, Run Melbourne and Travel Play Live.
