HOW WE ROLL
caption
PA R A LY M P I A N/O C C U PAT I O N A L T H E R A P I S T
Kerri Morgan
CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Whatever piece of sports equipment I’m using. I really enjoy my Top End Force RX handcycle.
12
NEW MOBILITY
Photo by Peggy Turner
W
ith the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo postponed due to COVID-19, and its future up in the air, threetime U.S. Paralympian Kerri Morgan finds herself at a crossroads. But not for the reason you might expect. This year’s Paralympic Games was supposed to be Morgan’s retirement party. After racking up four medals — one silver, three bronze — in the last two Paralympics, the 46-year-old was going to make one last push for gold as a T52 wheelchair racer and then call it a career.
Then, in December 2019, her only event, the T52 100 meter, was cancelled because there weren’t enough athletes racing in the classification. A strong long-distance racer, Morgan had long ago switched to sprint races for an opportunity to compete. Morgan has transverse myelitis and classifies at T52, a less-populated classification for elite athletes. When you add that she’s a woman, the frequent result is that there aren’t enough competitors. “I’m not saying it’s intentional, but it appears a lot of things are being cut from athletes who have higher impairments or less function. So you end up with a lot of sports being offered for people with more physical ability,” says Morgan. “There are more of them, so I get it. But we need to rethink how we organize events with a caveat that some classes need to remain because they offer opportunities for athletes that aren’t going to get them elsewhere.” Nevertheless, the circumstances mean Morgan has decisions to make: Does she end her Paralympic career and
WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO GO ON A DATE? In the summer, we go to a lot of St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. The last concert I went to was Mumford & Sons.
