Local Paralympic champion discusses career, upcoming games

WINDSOR, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – The start of the Paralympic Games in Paris has one former Paralympic champion from Windsor excited to see disabled athletes take center stage.

Connie Head, known to her family and friends as C.J., was an elite wheelchair track athlete in the 1970’s and ’80’s. She contracted polio in 1954 at age 2 and lost the use of her legs.

Head grew up using crutches and was very active and a regular swimmer. However, she had never heard of competitions for the physically disabled until her freshman year at RIT in 1970.

She quickly excelled at wheelchair racing, setting her first national record two months after joining the sport.

Head says it was a revelation.

“It didn’t occur to me because I had no reality with it until I got dragged to a wheelchair sports practice with the Rochester Wheels team. And then I was like holy crap, all of this is available,” said Head.

Head would go on to compete in the Paralympics held in Toronto in 1976, bringing home a gold and a bronze. She later set nine national and world records at the Pan-American Wheelchair Games in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1982, after which she retired from competition.

But she hasn’t stopped pushing herself, swimming twice a week at the YMCA in Johnson City. In fact, she recently swam 72 lengths of the pool in honor of her 72nd birthday.

Head says she’s thrilled that the Paralympic Games in Paris are receiving unprecedented attention. She says she spent her career competing in obscurity.

“People need to see it. Nobody ever saw it back then. I just love it that the athletes are going to be celebrated, and people are going to see things they’ve just not ever thought about,” said Head.

The Paralympics begin on Wednesday and run through September 8.

The Opening Ceremonies will be broadcast live Wednesday afternoon at 2 on the USA Network. NBC is planning three nights of primetime recaps and there will be extensive coverage on the Peacock streaming service.

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