Colorado Springs triathlete Melissa Stockwell talks with FOX21 ahead of 2024 Paralympic Games

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The 2024 Paralympic Games are officially underway in Paris and around 4,400 athletes are expected to compete, including triathlete Melissa Stockwell from Colorado Springs.

Stockwell joined the U.S. Army in 2002. After being deployed to Iraq in 2004, she became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat when her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Stockwell spoke to FOX21 Morning News from Paris, on Thursday, Aug. 29 about how she pushed herself to keep going and why this Olympic Games is different than previous years.

“Having the mindset of, ‘It could always be worse,’ I feel very fortunate to have just lost my leg because it could have been so much more, so I just kind of made the choice, to see what I could do with it,” Stockwell said.

Stockwell is competing in the Triathalon, an event she won bronze in 2016 in Rio.

“I realize that I am out here first to have fun, and I am out here doing it because I enjoy it, but a lot of time goes into it; I mean my days revolve around training… I’m traveling, I’m racing, and you know, my family comes first, but this is what I chose to do second,” said Stockwell. “You do what you love and I love it, and just really, seeing how far I can go with it.”

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