Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth to lead U.S. delegation to Paralympic Games

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth will lead the U.S. delegation at the 2024 Paralympic Games opening in Paris this month, the White House announced Thursday.

The newly appointed group to be members of this year's American delegation will be attending either the opening or closing ceremonies at the 2024 Paralympic Games international sporting event in Paris, set to begin Aug. 28, according to a release .

Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient who lost both her legs in Iraq in 2004 when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving from 2013-2017 as a House member from Illinois.

With her in Paris at the opening will be others appointed by President Joe Biden , including Denise Campbell Bauer, U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco, as well as U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher and National Council on Disability Chair Claudia Gordon. Another appointee who is attending is Brad Snyder, a retired U.S. Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer who was a three-time Paralympian and six-time Paralympic gold medalist in the men's para swimming and para triathlon.

Duckworth, while sitting as delegation head at the opening, later will trade her role with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra , who then will sit with the other members of the presidential delegation to act as U.S. representatives at the closing game ceremonies set for Sept. 8.

Last month in July, the White House first announced that Duckworth and Beccerra would lead the American delegation at their respective opening and closing events for the Paralympic Games, along with first lady Dr. Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff , who lead their own delegations at the recent Olympic Games.

And the presidential delegation members in Paris at the closing ceremonies in early September with Beccerra will remain the U.S. ambassador to France, with the addition of Dante Q. Allen, commissioner of Rehabilitation Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Education, and Sara Minkara, U.S. special adviser on international disability rights at the State Department. With them will be Muffy Davis, a board member of the International Paralympic Committee Governing Board who was a three-time Paralympian and seven-time Paralympic medalist for Alpine Skiing and Cycling.

Only 12 women in American history have ever given birth while serving as a member of the U.S. Congress. Duckworth, notably, in 2018 at age 50, became the first and so far only United States senator to give birth while in office, in addition to the distinction of being one of the 11 other sitting House members to have a child.

Before entering politics after her Iraq War service, Duckworth was appointed by then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs before her appointment by former President Barack Obama as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Interestingly, the Olympic and Paralympic medals, which are struck rather than engraved, were revealed in February to be medals with gold, silver and bronze in keeping with tradition, but each include original iron from the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of Paris.