San Diego athletes competing at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris
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San Diego native Courtney Ryan (right) and Team USA will compete for another medal in wheelchair basketball at the 2024 Paralympic Summer Games. Photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images
Five San Diego athletes are competing for Team USA in the Paralympic Summer Games that kick off with the opening ceremony Wednesday in Paris.
Why it matters: These elite local athletes give us another opportunity to witness historic wins and obsess over sports every day for the next two weeks.
The intrigue: Some competitors are making their Paralympic debuts, while others return with their sights set on making it to the podium or capturing another medal.
🏀 Courtney Ryan will compete in wheelchair basketball after winning bronze with Team USA in 2020.
- She played college soccer until an injury in her junior year left her paralyzed from the waist down. She transferred to the University of Arizona to play wheelchair basketball and became an assistant coach for the team after graduating.
🏊🏼♂️ Noah Jaffe, from Carlsbad, will compete in para-swimming for the first time.
- He was born with spastic, quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and started swimming for North Coast Aquatics at age 10.
🎾 Dana Mathewson looks to medal in wheelchair tennis in her third Paralympics.
- She contracted a rare neurological disease known as transverse myelitis at 10 years old and learned to play at Barnes Tennis Center. Mathewson became the first American woman to win a major wheelchair tennis title at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
🏃🏻♂ Joel Gomez of Encinitas returns to the Paralympics to run the 1,500m T13 event after winning gold at the U.S. team trials in July.
- He was born with a rare genetic disorder called blue cone monochromacy. Gomez broke the five-minute mile barrier at age 13 while competing with the San Diego Waves club.
🥏 Josh Cinnamo will look to earn another medal in shot put F46, the event he won bronze in at the 2020 games.
- He was born with a congenital limb deficiency of his right arm. He played football at Morse High School and at Luther College, where he also competed in track and field.
Catch up quick: Thousands of international athletes with disabilities will compete in 22 different sports at the Paralympics just weeks after the Olympics.
- The name stems from the Greek preposition "para" — it means beside or alongside — as these are "parallel" games to the Olympics.
Fun facts: This is the first time that all 22 Paralympics sports will be broadcast live.
- Team USA's roster features a 50-50 mix of men and women — just like the American team for the recently completed 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which for the first time in history saw an equal number of men and women compete.
What's next: Watch the events on NBC, USA Network, CNBC and Peacock, starting Thursday.