Christie Raleigh Crossley of Toms River, New Jersey, gave Team USA a great start for the day by capturing Paralympic gold in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S9 event. Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) followed soon with the U. S. squad’s second gold medal of the day in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S3. This is the first gold for Smith, who is participating in her second Games in Paris. Olivia Chambers of Little Rock, Arkansas, earned the third U. S. medal of the night in the women’s 200-meter individual medley S13, a silver.
Crossley not only won the gold but also upgraded her silver from the first day of competition in Paris 2024 by setting a new Paralympic record in 1:07.92 time in the first event final of the day for the U. S. at the Paris La Defense Arena. She is interested in achieving a relaxed approach and just not wanting to stress the race, which has worked out in a gold medal way.
“It has not sunk in at all,” explained Crossley when asked about her expectations before the race. “We went out there and had fun though and that’s always what I want when I swim. That was mission accomplished.” “I think I gave my kids something to be proud of and that is the only thing that I wanted. ”
Her playlist also helped her in the final build-up before a race in addition to also giving her the much-needed boost.
“It just so happened that my favorite walk-out song was the last song that I listened to, it just happened to be in the playlist. It’s Fergie’s ‘Glamorous.’ The last verse of the song talks about her dad telling her that this is life and to overcome and my dad has always said to me, ‘you’ve overcome adversity, you can do it.’ So in that moment, it felt like my dad was there, just reminding me you’ve got this. You can do this. This is what you’re meant for. He’s back home in the States. I wish he was here, but I definitely felt him in that moment. All the years of him telling me I could do it. It was right at that moment,” she said.
Right after she left the medal stand, Crossley saw her three children in the crowd and stopped to embrace them with the gold medal hanging around her neck.
“It feels like a dream. It does not feel real at all. I don’t know when it will fully sink in. I’m living a dream. I just love them,” Crossley said of the medal stand moment and seeing her kids in the stands supporting her. “It was incredible to have so many people from all over the world just celebrating you and the hard work you’ve put in.”
Crossley will be back in the Paris La Defense Arena pool on Wednesday in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9.
Tokyo saw Smith claim silver in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S3 event, but the last two years had their fair share of difficulties for the swimmer, who remained adamant on getting her first Paralympic gold on Tuesday.
“It’s indescribable, honestly. I’m lost for words right now. Obviously, an emotional win. It has been a rough two years to be back here. I’ve called it my redemption race from Tokyo, where I took silver,” Smith said. “Two years ago, I was being admitted into the ICU with collapsed lungs and that turned into a six-week rehabilitation stay followed by another seven months out of the pool. It was definitely frustrating; there were a lot of ups and downs. Ultimately, we just had one goal in mind, which was to make it back here to this stage and to make it back and be able to be a gold medalist. I couldn’t be more happy.”
Throughout her most difficult days, Smith never gave up on her road back to the Paralympic Games and ultimately the top of the medal stand. “Something I say often to others is do not let your circumstances define you and I often find myself saying that you need to also listen to the words you say to others because there are certainly moments where every athlete and every person has a setback. I’m just determined to always take the labels that people place on people with disabilities and absolutely crush them or go above and beyond them. It may not always be the same as what should be done but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. That’s what my coach and I have learned over the past couple years is how to adapt my stroke to my new body and how to make it as efficient as we can and that’s what we’ve been working for and it paid off,” she said.
Paris 2024: The gold was her second medal in Paris 2024 swimming after a silver in the 4×50-meter freestyle relay-20 points on Friday. In Wednesday’s Paralympic event, Smith will swim in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3 event.
Chambers secured a gold medal earlier in her first Paralympic Games and she won another in the women’s 200m individual medley SM13, which was her fourth race at Paris 2024 on Tuesday.
“It was a fun race,” she said of the 200 IM, in which a swimmer must change strokes every 50 meters and really cramp up as the race progressed; “I just really fought hard. It’s definitely a hard one, especially because every 50 is a sprint, though 50 is still far away.”
Chambers will compete in the last individual event, the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13, on Thursday.
One on one, it has been a tight program for the two-time medalist during Paris 2024 but she has been able to balance her schedule in order to get the best out of every show. “It is not easy but I think I prepared myself for this. We have double practices at least three days and swimmers practice six days a week so it is something that we are used to. Usually meetings take up to four days; therefore, if it is longer, then you must make the best out of the breaks that you have in between; it can go well,” she said.
Chambers will compete in her last individual event, the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13, on Thursday.
Three-time Paralympian Hannah Aspden, who participated in the first competitive relay in Paris on Monday, raced in her first individual competition at the Paris 2024 in the women’s 100 meters backstroke S9. In total, she came in an overall 6th with a time of 1:12.71. The next individual event for Aspden will be the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9 event on Wednesday.
Former three-time Paralympian Lizzi Smith from Muncie, Indiana, took part in her first Paris stint in the women’s 100m backstroke S9. Smith managed to do only eighth in the event final, swimming the race within a time of 1:13.37. She will be swimming it for women’s 100-meter butterfly S9 on Friday.
Elizabeth Marks of Colorado Springs, Colorado, became a four-time Paralympian this year and during the first two days of Paralympic competition, she was awarded three silver medals. She came back for more on Tuesday, swimming in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S6 category. John Marks finished seventh and did it in 38.79. In another competition in Paris, she will swim on Wednesday in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S7.
Team USA Medals:
Christie Raleigh Crossley, gold, women’s 100-meter backstroke S9
Leanne Smith, gold, women’s 100-meter freestyle S3
Olivia Chambers, silver, women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13
