Sportstravel Podcast

Melissa Stockwell's road to the Paralympics began in Iraq in 2004 when a roadside bomb took her leg, making her the first female American solider in history to lose a limb in active combat. After earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for her service, she turned her attention to the Paralympics, becoming the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic Games. She competed in swimming at the Beijing Games in 2008, coming away without a medal but being selected to serve as the Team USA flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony. She then switched to paratriathlon, where she really found her calling. In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, she won a bronze medal, part of a U.S. sweep of the podium. Now she is training for the Tokyo Games in hopes of besting that performance. In this conversation with SportsTravel Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, Stockwell discusses her journey to the Paralympics, how to prepare for a Games that will be unlike any other and how she is encouraging youth adaptive sport athletes to give tria