Paralympics: Fighting for U.S.A. Again

Wounded in Iraq, Minnesota athlete Melissa Stockwell finds her strength again, competing for the Paralympic swim team

by Rachel Blount

Left, Melissa Stockwell, who lost her left leg in the Iraq war, listened to her coach’s advice after a workout Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. She took up swimming during her rehabilitation and will compete in the U.S. Paralympic swimming trials, which begin today at the Minneapolis facility.

Like so many young athletes, Melissa Stockwell had envisioned herself representing her country in the Olympics one day. When her gymnastics career didn’t take her that far, Stockwell pursued her other patriotic dream, swapping her leotard for desert camouflage as a U.S. Army officer in Iraq.

This week, she is back in the competitive sports arena, seeking to wear the red, white and blue of the U.S. Paralympic swim team in Beijing this summer. Stockwell, 28, lost her left leg when a roadside bomb exploded near her unarmored Humvee as she led a supply convoy through Baghdad four years ago. The Eden Prairie High graduate has been training full time since January at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and she will compete in four events at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials that begin today at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center…

The Paralympics originated in the 1940s as a means for wounded World War II veterans to continue participating in sports. Though they are open to all elite athletes with disabilities, the U.S. Olympic Committee has begun programs to give disabled veterans the training, facilities and support they need to again represent their country — this time as world-class athletes.

“I can’t imagine my life without sports,” said Stockwell, who will swim the 50-, 100- and 400-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly during the three-day trials. “I knew I wouldn’t be myself again until I was back in sports. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. I wanted to prove to myself that even though I don’t have a leg, I’m not going to let that stop me.”

Stockwell is among about a dozen U.S. veterans attempting to make the Paralympic team in various sports. Hundreds of others are using sports for rehabilitation, fitness and just plain fun, with the support of organizations including the Wounded Warrior Project and the U.S. Olympic Committee programs.

The Paralympics will take place in Beijing just after the Summer Olympics.

Competitive spirit restored

At Eden Prairie, Stockwell — then Melissa Hoffman — participated in gymnastics, diving and pole vaulting. She spent time on the diving and rowing teams at the University of Colorado, where she was part of the ROTC program.

Her husband, Dick Stockwell, was sent to Iraq with her in 2004. He was the one who told her in the emergency room that the blast — on April 14, 2004 — took her leg. “I said, ‘OK, it happened,'” she recalled. “Let’s just move on.”

Armed with that attitude, Stockwell endured 15 surgeries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There, she met John Register, associate director of outreach and development for the U.S. Paralympic Team. Register, a former Paralympian, and Gulf War veteran, regularly visits Walter Reed and other military hospitals to spread the word about sports opportunities.

“We want to get the veteran population more active and involved at all levels,” Register said. “Melissa saw a window of time where she might participate on the elite level. And she was ready for that.”

Stockwell started ambitiously, participating in the New York City Marathon on an arm-powered bike. She learned to ski and was exhilarated by the sense of freedom it gave her. She completed a triathlon in San Diego.

She hadn’t swum competitively since she was a 10-year-old on her local team. The sport appealed to Stockwell because she didn’t need a prosthetic, and she took to the water instinctively. She began training seriously in Chicago, where her husband is attending medical school.

“Doing the New York City Marathon gave me the insight that I could still do athletics,” Stockwell said. “I still crossed the finish line, even though I wasn’t running. That put the competitive drive back in me.”