Spirit in Motion.
In 2004 in Athens, the International Paralympic Committee updated the Paralympic motto, shifting from its decade-old Mind, Body, Spirit, to Spirit in Motion — to better celebrate the uncompromising drive of each athlete, the forward progress — exceeding what others thought possible.
It’s that iron will, that drive — that spirit — to run, leap, dive, shoot beyond expectations that may best define the elite athletes of the Paralympic Games. A nearly universally recognized TV juggernaut, the Olympic Games returned to primetime last month in Paris. And a few weeks later, in a long-overdue but most welcome development for popular culture and global audiences, the Paralympic Games will have their due on NBC, Peacock and other platforms, Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
A quadrennial event like the Olympics, the Paralympics include athletes with physical, vision and/or intellectual impairments. Growing awareness and commitment to inclusion and accessibility this century no doubt boosted widespread interest, but it’s also more straightforward: Paralympians inspire. This is must-see TV (and social media).
A lengthy roster of Matadors have competed on the elite global Paralympics stage — and a number are headed to Paris 2024. Many started at California State University, Northridge as student-athletes focused on one goal, only to succeed in an entirely different arena.
Here are three who embody Spirit in Motion.
KATIE HOLLOWAY BRIDGE
SITTING VOLLEYBALL
PARALYMPIAN
’08 / ’12 / ’16 / ’20 / ’24
Katie Holloway Bridge ’08 (Sociology) is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who was named MVP of the Tokyo 2020 Games, as Sitting Volleyball team captain. In 2004 however, when she arrived on the CSUN campus, she was a journalism major and member of the Matador Women’s Basketball team. Bridge was born with fibular hemimelia — without a fibula bone — in her right leg, which led to amputation of her foot and ankle at age 2. Wearing a prosthetic leg, she went on to excel at basketball and volleyball.
“Once I was fitted with a prosthesis, I never knew anything different,” Bridge said. She grew up in Lake Stevens, Wash., playing numerous able-bodied sports, and she fell in love with basketball, volleyball and softball. When she graduated from Lake Stevens High School, CSUN recruited her for women’s hoops.
As an undergraduate, Bridge happened upon a sitting volleyball practice in Redwood Hall, in one of the many gyms adjacent to what’s now known as Premier America Credit Union Arena. In sitting volleyball, players are on the floor and must maintain contact with it at all times, including at least one part of the bottom when hitting the ball. At the time, Bridge introduced herself to the coach and soon joined the team.
“At first, it seemed like it would be less challenging than what I was currently doing,” she said, “but the opposite is true. You are playing on your butt and using your whole body in a different way. And at first it was scary, because I had to take off my prosthetic and play in front of thousands of people. But I totally fell in love with the sport.”
Bridge went on to train with the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball team at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, and she’s competed as outside hitter in four Paralympic Games. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, Team USA reached the gold medal match and lost to China, bringing home silver. Team USA went head-to-head with China twice more, and at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, finally took the gold. The team repeated in Tokyo, where Bridge was captain.
“It had to be the best women’s sitting volleyball game I’ve ever played in or seen,” she said. In total, Bridge counts two silvers and two golds in her display case. She’s not done, but her world has changed since Tokyo. “I had my baby after the Tokyo Games, and now I’m hoping to qualify for Paris,” she said earlier this year. Daughter Claire is now a year old.
Rome hosted the first Paralympic Games in 1960, and it has been a long road to recognition. Now that viewers can watch Paralympic events on TV and streaming platforms, the excitement and opportunities have multiplied, which she hopes will lead to further growth and resources, Bridge said. Her experience at CSUN fostered determination and taught her the value of hard work, she added.
“Playing college basketball as an amputee is not easy, and what I have pulled from my time at Northridge is an extreme work ethic,” Bridge said. “One of my coaches, Carla Houser, and I had a love-hate relationship, meaning she pushed me to my capacity, and always had my back. If I had never learned just how hard I could go, I wouldn’t have known I could do it.
“And now, I can love myself as an athlete with a disability, which also is tough in the U.S.,” she continued. “Although USA Volleyball helps support us, other countries fund their Paralympic athletes full time.” Bridge, 37, now works for a tech company, Teamworks, and lives in Palo Alto, Calif., with her husband and daughter.
JAMIE WHITMORE
PARACYCLING / ROAD + TRACK
PARALYMPIAN
’16 / ’20 / ’24
Jamie Whitmore ’98 (Criminology and Corrections) always wanted to go to the Olympics and has been “extremely athletic” since age 5, she said. Born in Sacramento, Whitmore competed in track and field and attended CSUN on a scholarship. After graduation, she competed in triathlons — including the grueling Wildflower Triathlon in Central California — then discovered mountain bike racing.
She found her sweet spot in the XTERRA Triathlon, an extreme event that combines swimming, mountain biking and running. Whitmore was world champion in 2004, and by 2008 had 37 wins, six national titles and the XTERRA world title. When she returned home from the 2008 World Championships in Maui, though, something was off.
“I took some time off and when I started up again, there was this weird tightness in my hamstring,” Whitmore said. “I couldn’t run at first, then it got so bad that I couldn’t ride — or even sit — without pain. That’s when I knew something was wrong.” She went to several specialists, who diagnosed overuse, a ruptured disc, even ovarian cysts (and at one point was told she simply had a low pain threshold) before landing at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed her with spindle cell sarcoma.
“They found a huge tumor growing through my pelvic area,” Whitmore said. “It looked like a butternut squash, and the x-ray didn’t show it because it was within the pelvic bone.”
An initial surgery left Whitmore’s left leg paralyzed, but she was able to learn to walk again. Within two months, however, the tumor returned and grew bigger. A second surgery took 12 hours and removed part of Whitmore’s tail bone, the rest of her sciatic nerve and her left gluteal muscle. She also faced nearly fatal sepsis and had a drain in her back for 10 months before she was strong enough for chemotherapy.
Later, a third surgery moved her left kidney to her right pelvic area, and she was feeling pretty good for a while. One day, Whitmore started getting queasy again and thought the cancer had returned.
“Turns out I was pregnant with twins!” she said, laughing. She’s now remarried and the mother of 14-year-old twin boys.
While Whitmore was recovering from the first surgery, she got a call from Bob Babbitt, co-founder of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a nonprofit that supports people with physical challenges to pursue active lifestyles and competitive athletics. “There’s always Paralympics,” Babbitt told her.
“This was a pivotal point for me,” Whitmore said. “It gave me hope to forge on and find a new way to compete.”
And it’s clear that Whitmore must compete. Just three years after her first surgery, she was back on her bike. With support from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, specialists fitted Whitmore with an Allard AFO brace that allows her to cycle by transferring the work from her foot and lower leg to her quad muscle. She started competing in paracycling road and track events, medaling in both. At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Whitmore won gold in the road race and silver in the 3,000-meter track event.
As a track and field student-athlete at CSUN, Whitmore learned independence and the value of teamwork, she said. After graduation, “the XTERRA games taught me how to endure and adapt to difficult situations,” she added. “Rarely do those races go smoothly! You have to decide whether to quit or fight to the end.”
As Whitmore, 47, worked earlier this year to qualify for the 2024 Paralympic Games, she dreamed of bringing her family to Paris. “The boys were there when I competed in Rio, and it was incredible,” she said.
WESLEY WILLIAMS
GUIDE RUNNER / TRACK & FIELD
PARALYMPIAN
’08 / ’12 / ’16 / ’20
For guide runner Wesley Williams ’05 (Graphic Design), competing became a labor of love. Williams, an All-Big West Conference selection in 2004 as a sprinter for CSUN, had lofty aspirations for competing after graduation. But life stepped in, and there were bills to pay. He was working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car when his friend and fellow Central California track star Jerome Avery told Williams about his experience as a guide runner in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.
Williams idolized Avery, who’d competed in the 2000 Olympic Trials. “[I’d] never heard of the Paralympics,” Williams said in a 2021 interview with CSUN. “[Avery told me], ‘You wouldn’t believe what I just came back from. This is phenomenal. These blind athletes, they get busy.’” (For the record, Williams also idolized Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson.)
In 2005, thanks to his friend’s connection, USA Paralympic Track and Field “started flying me all over the place,” Williams said. “At first I did it because I could still train and compete at a high level on my own. Then, I started working with the runners, went to my first Parapan American Games in 2007, and realized the importance of [the guide’s] role. I just loved the guys and wanted to do the best I could for them.”
Williams moved to Chula Vista, home of the summer Olympic Training Center. He worked with many athletes, but once he met blind athlete Lex Gillette, something just clicked. By 2009, the pair were working together full time.
“He is definitely a force, and has amazing drive,” Williams said of Gillette. “And ability — he plays baseball. People wonder how, but Lex can do it.” Gillette has written a couple of books, including one titled “Fly,” the mantra Williams chants as Gillette runs toward his takeoff spot in the long jump.
Gillette focuses on the 100-meter dash (sprint) and the long jump, where he’s dominated in U.S. competitions for 20 years. But as dedicated and respected as he is, the top global prize has eluded him: Gillette has yet to win Paralympic gold.
“It’s crazy,” Williams said. “He broke the world record, is a five-time Para World champ and has won so many medals, but has only gotten to silver at the Paralympics.” Gillette’s most recent shot at it was the Tokyo 2020 Games (postponed to summer 2021), where he won silver, again, in the long jump.
The relationship between a blind athlete and their guide is built on trust, the pair said. Williams’ and Gillette’s personalities complement each other, with Williams’ humor making him a fan favorite. For the 100-meter sprint, Williams and Gillette are tethered, with a lanyard just short enough that they stay within two lanes. For the long jump, they count off eight steps from the start to the launch point, and Williams uses vocal cues to his jumper.
Williams’ motivation, he said, continues to be the sense of pride he feels knowing he’s a crucial part of Gillette’s journey. In Paris, the pair aims to medal in the 100 meters (“Guides don’t get medals for the field events, but they do in track events,” Williams said, laughing). And, perhaps, that elusive gold in the long jump. Williams, 41, said this will be his last Games. After the competition concludes, he’ll serve as a brand ambassador for Almond Rx. “But Lex will keep on going,” he said — with a new guide as wingman.
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