Athletes connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claimed four medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games — one each in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, discus and canoeing.
In Paris, eight athletes with ties to the Church competed, from athletes who had been to multiple Games to others who were competing at their first.
Here’s how they did.
Paul Schulte
It was a golden run for Team USA’s wheelchair basketball team, which included 45-year-old Paul Schulte, who returned to the team after nine years. It’s the third straight Paralympic gold for the team. The team was 3-0 in pool play against Spain, the Netherlands and Australia. Then they won against France in the quarterfinals, Canada in the semifinals and Great Britain in the gold-medal game.
Winning the gold triggered “an explosion of emotion, gratitude and excitement,” Schulte told the Church News in a phone interview from Paris shortly before the closing ceremonies.
“It’s been an absolute gift to be able to come back and earn a spot to train and compete alongside these players,” he said. “I knew many of them when they were young. And to see the kind of men they’ve become and to witness them being the best in the world is something I’ll never forget.”
Schulte played in all of the pool games and in the quarterfinals. He was selected by fellow athletes to be one of the flag bearers during the closing ceremonies. He felt his biggest contributions to the team included striving to be a good example, instilling confidence in others and working hard each day in practice.
In training before the games and while in Paris, Schulte said he did his best to keep the Sabbath Day holy and consistently studied his scriptures. He also dealt with minor injuries along the way but was blessed with health through priesthood blessings. He felt the love and support of the Lord throughout his experience.
“Whether it was needing to feel calm in intense moments or needing to overcome physical hurdles in trying to do this at age 45, I felt His support every step of the way. I’d be a fool not to acknowledge my complete dependence on Him,” Schulte said.
Paris is Schulte’s fourth Paralympics — and the first after retiring in 2015. He has a bronze from 2012, when the Games were in London, England. He also competed in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia, and the 2008 Games in Beijing, China.
During 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. Schulte 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.
Josh Wheeler
USA’s wheelchair rugby team, including 44-year-old Josh Wheeler, won silver in the final against Japan — the third Paralympic Games silver medal. The team was 2-1 in pool play, winning matches against Canada and Germany and losing to Japan. In the semifinals, they won against Great Britain. Wheeler played more than 20 minutes each match, scoring multiple tries each game.
In Paris, the teams included both men and women for the first time at the Paralympics.
It’s the third Paralympics — and third silver medal — for Wheeler. He was part of the team that won silver both in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
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.
David Blair
USA’s David Blair, of Eagle Mountain, Utah, won bronze medal in the men’s discus T64 (for lower limb impairments) with a throw of 57.76 meters.
Paris was the third Paralympics for 48-year-old Blair. He was high school state champion in discus and received an athletics scholarship to Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, setting records along the way. He picked up Paralympic competition after 16 years and then qualified to compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016, where he won the gold medal. He was fourth in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021.
Blair became the Paralympic record holder in Rio and set the world record at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Tucson, Arizona, on May 20, 2021. Both still stand. He won gold at both the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris and the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
Peter Cowan
Peter Cowan, of Hastings, New Zealand, won bronze in the competitive men’s va’a single 200-meter VL3 race, with a time of 48.28 seconds, less than a second behind the gold-medal winner. The para va’a is a rudderless outrigger canoe that has a pontoon as a support float, and the competitor uses a single-blade paddle. The VL3 category is for those with lower-body impairments.
It’s the first Paralympics for 29-year-old Cowan, who won silver at the International Canoe Federation Para Canoe World Championships. When he was 15, the rugby player was training for the Iron Maori triathlon when his bike was clipped by an oncoming car. Later, his right leg had to be amputated above his knee. When he was 17, he was invited to a waka ama, or Maori outrigger canoe, training session. He served a mission in Japan and Australia, and he and his wife are the parents of two boys.
Eric Bennett
It was a history-making fifth Paralympics for USA’s Eric Bennett as the 50-year-old became the most experienced archer ever for Team USA. In the men’s individual recurve competition, open division, he lost the match in the first round in the head-to-head elimination rounds, which are the best of three sets.
Bennett 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. 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.
Tupou Neiufi
In the pool in the Paris La Defense Arena, Tupou Neiufi, 23, of Auckland, New Zealand, swam in her third Paralympics. She was ninth in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S8 (for physical impairments) and was 10th overall in the 50-meter freestyle heats S8 (for physical impairments.
In the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, she won gold in the 100-meter backstroke S8. She also swam in the 50-meter freestyle. She was initially an alternate for the New Zealand team headed to the Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. After a teammate’s injury, she joined the team and swam in three races.
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.
Alejandra Aybar
Over at the pools in the Paris La Defense Arena, Alejandra Aybar, 35, a native of Azua, Dominican Republic, raced in three events at her second Paralympic Games. She competed in the 200-meter individual medley SM7 (for physical impairments), coming in 11th, and was eighth in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB6 (for physical impairments) and was 15th in the 50-meter butterfly S7 (for physical impairments).
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.
Lindi Marcusen
On the purple track at the Stad de France stadium, Lindi Marcusen competed in her first Paralympic Games. She was sixth in the women’s 100-meter T63 final with a time of 15.11 seconds and was eighth overall in women’s long jump T63. (In both events, the T63 classification was combined with other classifications where all athletes had their movement affected in one leg or the absence of legs above the knee.)
This is the first Paralympics for 28-year-old Marcusen of Spokane, Washington. Marcusen was in a car accident in 2017 that resulted in amputation of her right leg. She competed in gymnastics from elementary to high school, according to her Team USA profile. Marcusen is also a BYU–Idaho alumna.
