SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash — The Olympics in Paris may be over, but the excitement is not done yet.
The 2024 Paralympics in Paris start on August 28th, and several Spokane athletes are competing.
That includes Taylor Swanson, who is running the 100, 200, and 4×1 universal relay for Team USA.
Originally from the Seattle area, Taylor now calls Spokane home as she chases her dreams of becoming a professional athlete.
It is a dream she wasn’t sure would ever become a reality.
Taylor grew up playing soccer and running, but there was always something a little different.
Taylor wasn’t diagnosed with cerebral palsy until about a year ago, and at 29 years old, things clicked.
She connected with coaches at ParaSport Spokane to help grow her abilities, and now, instead of trying to find a “fix,” she is finding major success in her true identity.
“Since I was a little kid, I just had some difficulties with school, being a kinda clumsy kid, that I didn’t understand,” said Swanson. “I had all these individual diagnoses of different issues that I had, but we didn’t realize they were all just symptoms of cerebral palsy.”
According to Taylor’s coaches, growing up, training with able-bodied athletes played a major role in her success.
“She finally had this justification for why she was a clumsy kid, why she had anxiety, and why school was a challenge for her, and she is now operating as this whole individual, truly finding herself, and it is just so empowering,” said David Greig, head track and field coach at ParaSport Spokane. “Taylor is just a beast on the track. She is so strong because no one has limited her because of her disability. Because she didn’t exist in that realm in people’s eyes. She has developed this power and awareness that you just don’t see from people who have grown up in that culture of disability.”
Despite her power and awareness, Taylor still relies on some tools and pretty cool technology to get her race ready.
Off the track, she uses an electrical stimulation device on her right leg to help warm up and activate her muscles. When she is on the track, she uses an AFO leg brace connected to special shoes to improve her stability.
Greig has worked with dozens of athletes just like Taylor.
He said that in Para-Athletics, they are constantly finding the right tools and techniques for success, and this needs to be highlighted.
“It’s like coaching an able-bodied athlete. You look at the person in front of you and build the tools for them to be successful,” said Greig. “A lot of these athletes, if they didn’t have their disability, probably could be Olympians. But they have a disability to the Paralympics is where it is. It is super awesome and amazing and something we need to celebrate.”
Celebrating while bringing awareness to athletes that are often misunderstood and underrepresented.
“Taylor has a minimal disability, but that does not mean she doesn’t have a disability. We’re seeing a lot of online bullying and things like that because people don’t understand. If you don’t understand, it is better to ask than project,” said Greig.
When it comes to Taylor’s races in Paris, Greig is confident she will find success.
“Taylor is very much capable of it. There is an athlete from China that has the world record that is much faster than Taylor raced this summer at World Championships, but anything can happen on the day,” said Greig.
Taylor says she is just excited and dialed in. Ready to make her dreams come true.
“It would be awesome to come back being on the medal podium of some sort. That is obviously a huge goal that I would love to be able to do, but more than that is just to run my race as well as I can and see where that takes me,” said Swanson.
Taylor’s first race in Paris is on Friday, August 30th.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
