The Time of My Life
Competing in the Paralympics helped me accept my identity as a disabled athlete
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Unbelievable. Mind-blowing. Pure happiness. These are some of the phrases that come to mind when I reflect on my experiences as a two-time Paralympian. I competed in track and field at the Tokyo games in 2021 and the Paris games in 2024. My experiences at the two Paralympics were quite different, but they had one key element in common: they required me to essentially have two full-time jobs. I was a student with a double major in education and psychology at Bucknell University while training almost daily for world-class competitions. Despite the time-management challenges, as a first-generation college student, I graduated with honors in addition to my athletic achievements.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) postponed the Tokyo games from 2020 to 2021, and the city was mainly shut down during our time there. The IPC did not allow athletes to leave the Paralympic Village, and we had to test daily. No fans filled the stands, and the stadium was dead silent when I competed in the 400-meter race. Conversely, during the 2024 Paralympics, Paris was a loud and energy-filled environment. The streets and stands pulsed with cheering fans. I felt like I was on the world’s biggest stage!
But for me, the biggest difference between the two experiences was not the external context but rather my mindset and self-understanding. Before Tokyo, I had not seen myself as disabled. While I was born with arthrogryposis, a condition that’s left me with limited range of motion in my upper arms, I had previously competed against able-bodied athletes. I saw myself as an able-bodied athlete with different needs. But in Tokyo, for the first time in my life, I was in a place where everyone had a disability and our outstanding athletic feats were on display for the entire world to see. After competing in my first Paralympics, I could accept my disability identity and view myself as a para-athlete.
I also experienced immense personal growth between Tokyo and Paris. I’d been underperforming for the two years before the Paris tryouts, and it was unlikely I’d get on the team. I was struggling with burnout and had to reconnect to my love of running and remember that if I competed in Paris, I could serve as an athletic role model for disabled children. During the Paralympic trials, I raced a fourth-best career time, my season best by one and a half seconds. That narrowly gave me the last spot for Paris on the twenty-eight-man roster for Team USA.
Throughout my college journey, I balanced my athletic career with my life as a student. Sunday was often my day off from athletics, and I would spend it studying and trying to work ahead. I missed four weeks of classes to compete in Tokyo and struggled to catch up. While difficult, these experiences have prepared me for the challenges ahead as I continue to compete as a professional athlete and pursue research in psychology.
Photo: Bucknell University graduate Rayven J. Sample (right), races in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. His advice for others who dream of competing in the Paralympics: look for an athletic program that meets your needs. Adaptive sports programs, like wheelchair racing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, are a good option.
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