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Athletes Compete In Charlotte To Represent US In Paralympics

Davie Hinshaw
/
Charlotte Observer
Brian Muscarella (front) and Greg Taylor during their practice run in Huntersville.

The Paralympic Trials began Thursday morning in Charlotte. Trials in cycling, swimming, and track and field will be held over the next three days and are open to the public. 

Over 400 athletes are competing for a spot on TEAM USA. About a quarter of the participants will be named members of Team USA at Romare Bearden Park on Sunday. They'll go on to compete against other athletes with some kind of physical disability in the Paralympics in Rio de Janiero this September.

This week marks the first time Paralympic trials for multiple sports are being held in one city during the same week. Team USA chose Mecklenburg County partly because of the number of athletic venues here that are close together. The trials are taking place in Huntersville, the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Uptown, and Johnson C. Smith University.

Mecklenburg non-profit Partners for Parks placed the bid that brought the trials to the county. The group had a hard time raising the $100,000 needed to cover the cost of hosting. The organization’s president Doug Youngblood said that was because many people didn’t know what the sporting event is all about.    

The complete Paralympic Team USA will be named in mid-August. 

Twenty-three countries participated in the first official Paralympic games 56 years ago. The event has grown, and this year, over four thousand athletes from 176 countries will compete.