US Paralympian says she was bullied after winning silver medal

Paralympic swimmer Christie Raleigh Crossley has spoken out about being bullied and having her disability questioned after her silver medal win last week.

“It’s so amazing that I just broke a world record and won my first Paralympic medal on the same day,” said the athlete. USA today. “But I got off a bus and was verbally accosted by another athlete from another country.”

“To be told online by all these bullies that I’m somehow not as disabled as I seem, just because I can swim faster than them, is quite devastating,” she added.

The 37-year-old started her Paralympic career on Thursday by setting a world record in a heat of the 50m freestyle S9 race with a time of 27.28.

In the final later that day, which combined swimmers in both the S9 and S10 classifications, she finished second behind China’s Yi Chen, who took gold with a swimming time of 27.10.

Her happy moment was dampened by negative comments on social media sowed doubt about her disability, including among several fellow athletes. Several other Paralympians have since come to her aid.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said last week it was immediately investigating the matter. Raleigh Crossley said she also met with officials overseeing athlete safety at the Paralympic Village.

Use of para swimming classifications to categorize competitors based on their type and degree of restriction. It has been criticized as an imperfect system where the lines can sometimes blur.

Classes from S1 to S10 are for athletes with physical limitations who compete in freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events. The lower the number, the more severe the disability.

Raleigh Crossley, a former Florida State University swimmer who dreamed of competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was in a car accident in 2007 caused by a drunk driver that left her with back problems.

The following year she suffered a brain injury when she was hit by a car as a pedestrian.

Ten years later, she was hit in the head with ice during a snowball fight with her son. The incident led to the discovery of a tumor in her brain. As a result of the series of accidents, she has paralysis on her left side.

The mother of three from New Jersey opened for Today.com last week about her trip to the Paralympics, describing how “I’ve had to deal with bullying because I’m missing limbs or because people think I don’t look disabled.”

She hopes to raise awareness to redefine what a Paralympian looks like.

“I want to show that Paralympians are more than athletes with missing limbs. We are not just people in wheelchairs. We are not all blind. There is a spectrum of what makes someone eligible and there are a lot of athletes who are missing out because they just don’t know it,” she said. “I want to help children, the next generation of Paralympians, embrace their sport.”