This year’s Paralympic tournament is getting more coverage than ever, if not for its outstanding celebration of human strength then for champions like Michelle Konkoly, the star swimmer that just five years ago fractured her vertebra and was left paralysed from waist down when she fell off her dorm room window in Georgetown.
While most would have accepted this as a time to reevaluate their goals M.K, a freshmen at the time, insisted that she be kept on the swimming team as she went through her rehabilitation. An empowering attitude that paved the way for her future as a 3 time World Medalist, 2016 US National Paralympic Swim Team Member and 6-time American Record Holder. In the most recent update, M.K has won silver in the 4×100 relay for Team USA setting a world record and a Paralympic record in her first two events the S9 50- and 100-meter freestyle. In a true testament to her strength as a female Paralympic champion, and indeed a champion athlete, she tweeted ‘The race always hurts. Expect it to hurt. You don’t train so it doesn’t hurt. You train so you can tolerate it.
