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Blind Swimmer Seeks Gold
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Some of the world’s top athletes are getting ready for the Olympics in Athens, Greece-and for the games that follow them…the Paralympics. The Paralympics bring together top athletes from six different disability groups. The focus is on achievement rather than disability. It’s a focus a young woman in Alabama maintains every day of her life. |
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SCRIPT:
Carrie Willoughby knows what it’s like to swim against the tide. She was born legally blind and without pigment in her eyes, her skin, and hair.
Carrie Willoughby/Blind Swimmer: “I’ve been taught, growing up, that nothing good is ever easy; nothing easy ever shows how good you are.”
But Carrie finds ways to do things some tell her should be impossible. She’ll travel to Athens in September on the U.S. Paralympic swim team.
Carrie Willoughby: “To represent my country again is going to be awesome.”
Carrie swims almost seven miles a day, counting her strokes so she’ll know when to turn in the pool.
Carrie Willoughby: “We also do mental training outside of the physical training, to do mental imagery, to prepare ourselves to swim our race as we see it in our minds.”
Joan Wright/Carrie’s Former Coach: “She’s a very determined young lady, very powerful person, very inspirational. She’s like a magnet.”
Carrie is also an accomplished artist and wants to work as a high school art teacher. Like her swimming, her artistic vision isn’t limited by her eyesight.
Carrie Willoughby: “Though my eyes don’t see very well, my ability to mentally see inside, like imagine things, is greater.”
She volunteers as a youth counselor at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Birmingham. Carrie credits much of her success to the encouragement she received growing up in the church.
Carrie Willoughby: “The Paralympic motto is the mind, body, and spirit. And in putting all of those three together, it creates this entity that can overcome and achieve anything.”
And that combination, Carrie Willoughby hopes, will result in gold from Athens.
TAG:
This year’s Paralympic games in Athens will be the biggest ever, with more than four thousand athletes competing from 140 countries.
The Italian city of Torino will host the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, whereas the Summer Paralympics 2008 will be in Beijing, China.
For more information, check the Web site: http://www.paralympic.org/start.asp.