Team USA Paralympian Christie Raleigh Crossley has revealed she was left 'utterly devastated' after accusations claiming she had lied about her disability to compete were made.
Crossley wrote her name into the history books in Paris, breaking the women's 50m freestyle world record on her Paralympic debut. The 37-year-old impressed in the pool, clinching the accolade with a time of 27.28 seconds in the freestyle S9 class.
The division consists of athletes who have a number of disabilities, including weakness, limb loss, or coordination difficulties, torching the previous record. Crossley, she had suffered from a number of issues throughout her life which put an end to her dream of becoming an Olympian.
After being hit by a drunk driver in 2007, the swimmer suffered a neck and back injury, before then suffering a brain injury after being hit as a pedestrian in a hit-and-run incident just one year later. She then sustained paralysis on her left side due to bleeding from a previously unknown blood tumor in her brain.
This therefore saw her turn her attention to this year's Paralympic Games, and despite announcing herself as a world record holder, Crossley was criticized online for fabricating her disability. Hitting back, she claimed: "I went from enjoying a world record to being utterly devastated that the entire world seems to think I was a cheater.
"And that I was somehow faking the hole in my brain and the cyst in my spinal cord." The athlete continued: "To be told online by all of these bullies that I am not somehow disabled as I appear, just because I can swim faster than them, it’s pretty devastating.
Follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories.
"Because my family witnesses my disability every day and what it takes away from our family life, what it takes away from me as a human, as a woman, and it’s been pretty awful." Having been unable to qualify for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Crossley teamed up with the para-swimming team a year later.
Writing for T oday.com on Friday, the 37-year-old admitted she was unaware she was even eligible to become a Paralympian. "I didn’t know that I was eligible for the Paralympics. I had no idea what the requirements were. It wasn’t that I was hesitant to get into Paralympic sports.
"I just wasn’t aware it was an option. It was a lack of knowledge, which I think is the case for many athletes who have sustained life-changing injuries."
Most Popular
Comments / 0