USA’s wheelchair basketball team, including Latter-day Saint Paul Schulte, will be playing in the semifinals on the sixth day of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games on Wednesday, Sept. 3. Also, five-time Paralympian Eric Bennett competed in archery on Thursday, Sept. 4.
Here are updates on those competitions.
Wheelchair basketball
Team USA won 82-47 against France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Sept. 3, moving on to the semifinals. They will play Canada at Bercy Arena on Thursday, Sept. 5, 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time/21:30 Paris Time. Schulte played 7 minutes, 23 seconds and scored two points.
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.
Wheelchair basketball games consist of four 10-minute periods and overtime in the event of a tie, according to Paralympic.org. The court, hoop and backboards are the same dimensions as Olympic basketball and the scoring is the same with a point for each free throw, two points for baskets inside the three-point line and three points from outside the three point line. Players must pass or bounce the ball after every two pushes and there isn’t a double-dribble rule.
Archery
Wednesday was the elimination rounds for Bennett in the men’s individual recurve competition, open division, at Invalides. Bennett faced Suresh Selvathamby of Malaysia in the first round and lost 6-2.
The archers go head-to-head with three-arrow sets and get two points for each set they win, up to five sets. Each section of the target is marked with a point value, with 10 in the center.
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 made 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.
Bennett shared in a Facebook post about the “pure joy” of being in his fifth Paralympics, but also the “disappointment for how it ended.” He’s also grateful for those who have supported him, including his family and friends.
Upcoming competitions
In the wheelchair basketball semifinals, Team USA, including Schulte, faces Canada on Thursday, Sept. 5.
At the Stad de France stadium on Thursday, Sept. 5, USA’s David Blair will compete in the men’s discus F64 (for lower limb deficiencies), and Lindi Marcusen will participate in the women’s long jump T63 (for one lower limb deficiency).
At the Paris La Defense Arena , New Zealand swimmer Tupou Neifu will compete in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S8 (for physical impairments) on Thursday, Sept. 5.
On Friday, Sept. 6, is the para canoe heats for men’s va’a single 200-meter competitions, which include New Zealand’s Peter Cowan.
