Getting to the Paralympics takes grit, hours, and sweat, along with supportive friends and family members. Perhaps it takes a bit of insanity, too.

“It was tough training for the Paralympics,” says rower Angela Madsen. “I ended up living in my van to stay in Philadelphia to train with my partner.”

Madsen, 51, lives in Long Beach, Calif., and is a member of the California Paralyzed Veterans of America. While training for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, she drove 2,700 miles east without much planning…or money. Three months of training with her partner was all she had in mind—the details would work themselves out.  

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“I rented space in a parking garage,” she explains. “I used my stipend to rent a space in a parking garage.”

Cramped quarters and harsh conditions.

“I’m not really a stranger to that,” offers Madsen. “I just got back from rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. I was on a small boat 67 days.”

Rowing from the Canary to the Leeward islands with a Frenchman who knew as much English as Madsen knew French.

“I can cuss in French now,” she quips.

Angela Madsen says getting back in sports saved her life. The Paralympics helped the rower achieve her goals.

Time to Train

The Marine Corps veteran eventually found temporary housing in Philadelphia with another wheelchair user. Her rowing partner worked, so they’d meet in the mornings and evenings to fit training around his schedule. While her partner was working, Madsen headed to schools and women shelters to volunteer and inspire others.

She’s not done with the Paralympics. Madsen is training for the 2012 London Games. 

“I switched sports,” she explains. “I’m in track and field—throwing. I just got back from the Pan American Games (Guadalajara, Mexico) and got a silver in shot put. I’ll probably be in London at the Paralympics again.”

Madsen is cross-training about 40 hours a week. She says it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice—it’s living a lifelong dream.

“I think it’s just not giving up on goals,” she offers. “I was an athlete all through high school. I was voted most likely to become an Olympian.”

Finding A Different Path

When she was a high-school junior, Madsen went to an Olympics volleyball camp, and started dreaming about Team USA and gold medals, but life derailed her. Madsen joined the USMC, where she seemed back on track to achieve Olympic dreams.

“I got orders to play basketball,” says Madsen. “The Marine Corps women’s basketball team. I tripped and someone landed on my back.”

Which left her with a spinal-cord injury (SCI) that derailed her dreams again. That was until a 1995 trip to Atlanta.

 “I’d given up on all my goals,” Madsen comments. “Some other veterans inspired me to go to the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Getting back in sports saved my life. I was able to achieve my goals a little differently with the Paralympics.”

Being single with an adult daughter, Madsen has a freedom other Paralympians don’t. Many have to balance training with family responsibilities and work.

Family Support

Swimmer Jim Milliken, a bilateral amputee, had to find that balance when he was training for the 1988 Seoul Paralympics. In addition to working as an accountant, Milliken was married and had three daughters.  

“The oldest girl was in high school, and I had two in junior high,” the Vietnam veteran remarks. “I leaned on the wife a lot to run the taxi service there. It was a bit of a strain; you’re late for the volleyball game, or miss the volleyball game, or miss the school play. But, they were very supportive.”

Milliken, 64, says he’s an “adopted member” of the Buckeye PVA chapter. 

“I swam about six days a week during the late ’80s, when I was training for the Paralympics,” he remembers. “I trained with a masters swim team, an able-bodied masters swim team. They gave me a real workout.”

He adds, “When they weren’t in the pool, I’d go to the (YMCA) and work out on my own.”

Come Together

Paralympics training started taking a toll on Milliken’s wife, Chris. 

“When I first mentioned (the Paralympics), she was very excited and supportive,” he says. “Into training, it got to her. She’d say, ‘Oh, the pool again?’ It got to be a drag in the middle, but as (the Paralympics) got closer, she got upped a little.”

A local Lions Club raised funds to send the whole family with Milliken to the Paralympics. Chris and daughters Jennifer, Angela and Katie got their payoff for missed family time. Not only did they see Milliken compete in the Paralympics, but…  

“I think she wore out the back of the charge card in the shopping area,” he jokes. “They had a good time.”

Commitment

Paralympian Patrick McDonald, 44, is married and has two elementary-school-aged children.

“I think we have the same passion and train just as hard as (Olympians),” he says. 

When McDonald is not on the ice curling, he keeps up a grueling cross-training regimen and watches hours of event videos, studying his competitors’ techniques. Competing in the events needed for getting to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics cost McDonald memories.   

“Leading up to Vancouver, I missed four birthdays,” he explains. “After Vancouver, we did an extended three-week Disney trip and took a cruise.”

The Army veteran is training for the 2014 Winter Games, in Sochi, Russia.

Carlos Leon, 27, is also training for second round of shot put at the Paralympics. The Paralyzed Veterans Association of Florida member was at the 2008 Games, and aims for 2012.

“It’s a weight-room-dependent sport,” the Marine Corps veteran says. “There’s a lot of weights and strength conditioning.”

Along with a lot of time cross-training
in water.

“It’s a few hours a day,” he comments. “If you want to be an elite athlete, it’s got to be on the top of your priority list.”

For more information, visit usparalympics.org.

Representing PVA

The Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) had ten athletes take part in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Among them were Angela Madsen, Carlos Leon, J. Lee Hinson, Laura Schwanger, Kevin Stone, Oscar “Oz” Sanchez, Russell Wolfe, Will Groulx, Scot Severn and Scott Winkler. Joining them were veterans Kari Miller, Lee Hinson, Chuck Lear, T.J. Pemberton, Jennifer Schuble, Melissa Stockwell, Kevin Stone, and Casey Tibbs.

PVA members who went to the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver were Patrick McDonald, Chris Devlin and Sean Halsted. Other military vets at the Winter Paralympics were Heath Calhoun and Andy Soule. 

Many of the PVA athletes who went to the 2008 and 2010 Paralympics are aiming for 2012, London, and 2014, Sochi, Russia. They’re joined by others, including Anthony Radetic, Jeff Odom, David Randall and Carlos Moleda.

In addition to inspiring people with disabilities to athletic lifestyles, many of these athletes are also showing that health and fitness aren’t for youth alone.

Moleda is nearing 50, yet in 2011 he took the top spot in the Men’s H3 cycling category at the USA Cycling Paralympic Time Trial National Championships in Augusta, Ga. He took the 19.6 km course in 33:34, besting the closest competitor by more than a minute.