United States at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
| United States at the 2016 Summer Paralympics |
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| IPC code | USA | ||||||||
| NPC | United States Paralympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Rio de Janeiro | |||||||||
| Competitors | 289 in 20 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Allison Jones (opening),Josh Brunais (closing) | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 4th |
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| Summer Paralympics appearances | |||||||||
The United States competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for three athletes in sailing events. They also qualified athletes in archery, goalball, shooting, swimming, and wheelchair basketball.
The United States had a team of 267 sportspeople scheduled to compete in 20 different sports at the 2016 Games. The team was 17% larger than the one that compete at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. The USA qualified a team in each of the 8 different team sports at the Games, the first time this happened since the 2004 Summer Paralympics. Of the 267 sportspeople in Rio, 142 were participating at the Games another time, having already participated in a previous Games.
The United States delegation included thirty veterans. The team had three active service members. Forty-three states and Washington DC were represented in Rio. The state with the greatest number of representatives was California, with 29. Michigan and Washington both sent 14 athletes.
To generate interest in the Games, the USOC organized US Paralympics’ Road to Rio Tour. This 10 tour involved nine stops around the United States and officially got underway on July 4, 2015.
The United States qualified seven archers for the Rio Games following their performance at the 2015 World Archery Para Championships. The spots earned in qualification include 2 men's compound open spots, 2 men and one woman in the recurve open event, and one spot for a man and woman in the W1 event. Archers involved in qualifying include Andre Shelby, Ben Thompson, Kinga Kiss Johnson, Eric Bennett and Timothy Palumbo.
Shelby took up archery in 2010, and first competed internationally in 2012. The right handed archer from Jacksonville is coached by Randi Smith and uses 29" long arrows with a 54 lbs draw weight. Thompson started in the sport in 2014 and made his first international appearance that same year. Coached by Nancey Trevaniam Tsai, the right handed archer from Springfield uses 30" long arrows with a 60 lbs draw weight.Kiss Johnson is originally from Miercurea, Romania but represents the United States and lives in McCormick. Nicknamed Kinga, the right handed archer took up the sport in 2010 and made her international debut in 2014. She is coached by Randi Smith, uses 32" long arrows and uses a draw weight of 40 lbs.Phoenix native Bennett lives in Surprise . He took up the sport in 1999 and made his international debut in 2007. Coached by MJ Rogers since 2012, he is righthanded, uses 27" long arrows and has a draw weight of 34 lbs. Palumbo is from Buffalo, New York and is lefthanded. He started in the sport in 2000, and made his international debut in 2013. He has been coached by Randi Smith since 2011, and uses 29" long arrows with a draw weight of 50 lbs.
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