World Courant
American Paralympic swimmer Christie Raleigh Crossley set a world report on Thursday in her debut on the Paralympic Video games in Paris.
The 37-year-old resident of Tom’s River, New Jersey, clocked 27.28 seconds within the 50-meter freestyle within the S9 class, which incorporates athletes with weak point, limb loss or coordination issues, breaking the earlier report.
However then she went on social media.
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Crossley informed reporters on Thursday that she had acquired a flood of feedback and messages on social media accusing her of faking her incapacity.
“I went from having fun with a world report to being fully devastated that the entire world appeared to suppose I used to be a cheater and that I used to be in some way faking the opening in my mind and the cyst in my spinal wire,” she mentioned.
Crossley suffered neck and again accidents in 2007 after being hit by a drunk driver, after which a mind harm in 2008 when she was concerned in a pedestrian collision, her official Workforce USA profileIn 2018, she suffered from paralysis on her left aspect on account of bleeding from a beforehand unknown blood tumor in her mind.
She beforehand educated to compete as an Olympic swimmer, however accidents put that dream out of attain. She determined to pursue the 2024 Paralympics after watching the 2021 Tokyo version. She took up para-swimming the next yr, and claims she has had questions on her incapacity ever since.
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Silver medalist Christie Raleigh-Crossley of Workforce United States reacts after the Ladies’s 50m Freestyle S10 Ultimate on Day 1 of the 2024 Summer season Paralympics at Paris La Protection Enviornment on August 29, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Adam Fairly/Getty Photos)
“For all these bullies on-line to say that I am not disabled in any means that I seem like, simply because I can swim quicker than them, is fairly devastating,” Crossley mentioned. “As a result of my household witnesses my incapacity day-after-day and what it takes away from our household life, what it takes away from me as a human being, as a girl, and it is fairly devastating.”
After setting the world report and returning to the athletes’ village, she had just some hours to arrange for the ultimate of the 50m freestyle in her class. The accusations and hate feedback weighed on her, however she returned to La Protection Enviornment that night time for a shot at a medal. Crossley gained silver, simply behind China’s Chen Yi, who broke the world report for the ladies’s S10 50m freestyle.
In a private essay posted Friday on In the present day.com, Crossley claimed she did not even know she was eligible for the Paralympics earlier than she determined to run.
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Christie Raleigh-Crossley of Workforce United States competes within the Ladies’s 50m Freestyle Ultimate – S10 on Day 1 of the Paris 2024 Summer season Paralympics at La Protection Enviornment on August 29, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Ian MacNicol/Getty Photos)
“I did not know I used to be eligible for the Paralympics. I had no thought what the necessities have been. It wasn’t that I used to be hesitant to do Paralympic sports activities; I simply did not comprehend it was an choice. It was a lack of awareness, which I feel is the case with many athletes who’ve suffered life-changing accidents,” she wrote.
Crossley additionally claims that she beforehand refused to disclose how critical her situations truly have been, however that they did have a significant influence on her way of life.
“If I am trustworthy, I additionally did not need to admit how extreme my incapacity was. I had muscle spasms and restricted vary of movement on my left aspect, and I attempted to cover it,” she wrote. “Though I exploit my wheelchair day-after-day, I typically stroll with forearm crutches when my muscle groups aren’t as spasming, nevertheless it nonetheless places lots of pressure on my physique.”
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Jackson Thompson is a sports activities journalist for Fox Information Digital. He beforehand labored for ESPN and Enterprise Insider. Jackson has lined the Tremendous Bowl and the NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures akin to Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
US Paralympic report holder hits again after accusation of faking handicap: ‘Fairly devastating’
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