In the first days of the 2024 Paris Games, Paralympians with ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints competed on the courts in wheelchair rugby at Champ de Mars Arena and wheelchair basketball at Bercy Arena, and in the pool at Paris La Defense Arena, and an archer made history at Invalides.
Here are updates on those competitions.
Wheelchair rugby
Team USA, including Josh Wheeler, 44, is 2-1 coming out of the preliminary competition and will be moving on to the semifinals on Sept. 1.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, it beat Canada 51-48, and Wheeler played about 22 minutes, scoring 11 tries. On Friday, Aug. 30, USA lost to Japan 45-42 in a match that was tied at the end of the second period. Wheeler played 22 minutes, 35 seconds and scored six tries. On Saturday, Aug. 31, USA won 67-57 against Germany. Wheeler played 15 minutes, 44 seconds, and scored six tries.
Wheelchair rugby is played indoors on a basketball court in four eight-minute quarters. Each player is classified from 0.5 to 3.5 points with 3.5 the highest mobility, and teams are allowed four players with a total of up to 8 on the court. For the 2024 Paris Paralympics, the teams are mixed. An extra half-point is allowed for each female player on the court.
The Arizona resident broke his neck in a motorcycle accident in 2006 that caused him to lose function in his lower body. Wheeler’s classification is 2.5 points.
Wheelchair basketball
Team USA’s wheelchair basketball team, including Paul Schulte, is 2-0 after the first two games in the preliminary round group B. It won 66-56 against Spain on Thursday, Aug. 27. Shulte played for 5 minutes, 20 seconds. Against the Netherlands on Saturday, Aug. 31, it won 60-34, and Shulte played for about three minutes.
Paris is Schulte’s fourth Paralympics — and the first after retiring in 2015. He competed in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia, the 2008 Games in Beijing, China, and in 2012 when the Games were in London, England, winning bronze.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he took up handcycling, building muscle and losing weight. This year, he decided to try competitive wheelchair basketball again and was invited to try out for the national team.
Shulte had a spinal cord injury in a car accident at age 10 and gave wheelchair basketball a try when he was 14. He currently serves in the bishopric in his Florida ward, and he and his wife have one son.
Wheelchair basketball players are classified based on their available movement, from 1 to 4.5. The five players must not be more than 14 combined. Schulte’s classification is 3.0.
Team USA plays Australia on Sunday, Sept. 1, in the final game of the preliminary round.
Para archery
USA’s Eric Bennett started his fifth consecutive Paralympic Games with the men’s individual recurve open ranking round on Thursday, Aug. 27, which sets up the head-to-head tournament on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Overall, he was 21st of the 30 archers and will face Suresh Selvathamby of Malaysia in the first round of the elimination tournament.
Bennett, 50, of Surprise, Arizona, lost his right arm above the elbow in a car accident when he was 15. He uses a mouth tab to pull back the string. At the Paris Games, he makes history as the most experienced archer ever for Team USA. He competed in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, placing ninth. He also competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, 2012 London Games and the 2008 Beijing Games, along with winning medals at multiple world and Parapan American competitions.
Para swimming
New Zealand’s Tupou Neiufu, 23, swam in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S8 (for physical impairments) on Saturday, Aug. 31. She was fifth in her heat with a time of 1 minute, 23.49 seconds. Of the 13 swimmers across two heats, she was 10th overall. The eight fastest swimmers from the two heats advanced to the finals.
Paris is the third Paralympic Games for Neiufu. She won gold in the 100-meter backstroke S8 in 2021 at the Tokyo Games. When Neifu was 2 years old, she was involved in a hit-and-run accident that resulted in brain bruising and left-side paralysis. She had to relearn how to sit, walk and use her arms. She first tried netball and then swimming to help her after the accident. She began swimming at 10 years old and competing at 11.
She also will compete in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S8 on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Alejandra Aybar, 35, a native of Azua, Dominican Republic, swam in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM7 (for physical impairments) on Saturday, Aug. 31. Aybar’s time was 3 minutes, 26.03 seconds, and she was 11th overall. The eight fastest swimmers from the two heats advanced to the finals.
Paris is her second Paralympics Games. In Tokyo, Japan, in 2021, she became the first swimmer representing her native Dominican Republic to compete in the Paralympics.
Aybar, who is 4 foot 3 inches tall, has brittle bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as crystal bone disease.
She is also competing in the 100-meter breaststroke SB6 on Sunday, Sept. 1, and the 50-meter butterfly S7 on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Opening ceremonies
Bennett shared a group photo of the USA para archery team ready for the opening ceremonies.
Schulte and his team showed off their Team USA gear for the opening ceremonies.
Upcoming competitions
Team USA, including Wheeler, plays in the wheelchair rugby semifinals on Sept. 1.
The wheelchair basketball preliminary round continues, and Team USA, including Schulte, plays Australia.
Aybar will be swimming in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB6 on Sept. 1.
