Celebrating Team USA’s First-Time Paralympic Swimming Medalists From Paris

It was a long road to the Paralympics for Christie Raleigh Crossley, and what a debut it was. 

Raleigh Crossley won a total of five medals — two of them gold — and toppled a couple of records in the process during her time in Paris. Along with teammate Ellie Marks, who also won five medals, Raleigh Crossley was the most decorated U.S. athlete at the Games. 

The Toms River, New Jersey, native grew up dreaming of being an Olympian before a series of accidents and medical setbacks brought the mother of three to the Para side of the sport. Raleigh Crossley (they/her) was named to her first Paralympic team this summer and won gold in the 100-meter backstroke S9 as well as the 100 butterfly S9, silver in the 100 freestyle S9 as well as the 50 freestyle S10, and bronze in the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle 34 points. 

“There is nothing more incredible than listening to your national anthem play as the stars and stripes rise to the ceiling. It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid and to have it actually happen is absolutely incredible,” Raleigh Crossley said during the Games.

They also opened the Games with a world record in the prelims of the 50 free and broke the Paralympic record in the 100 fly, her final individual event in Paris.  

“It feels awesome,” Raleigh Crossley said after setting the Paralympic record. “I definitely didn’t know I could go that fast so I’m just really, really excited about it. It was a fun swim.”

Here’s a look at Team USA’s other first-time Paralympic medalists in swimming, in no particular order:

Olivia Chambers

Chambers had to put college classes on hold to compete in her first Paralympic Games, but she made the University of Northern Iowa proud, becoming the school’s first student to capture a Paralympic medal and winning not one, not two, but three of them. She’s also the first UNI student to win an Olympic or Paralympic medal since 1952.

Chambers, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, who made her debut in Para swimming just two years ago as her battle with vision loss worsened due to multiple mitochondrial gene deletion syndrome, swam a career-best time to win gold in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S13, then added silver in the 100-meter breaststroke SB13 and the 200-meter individual medley SM13.

“I honestly can’t put into words what an incredible experience Paris was,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Being a Paralympian is something I dreamed of since starting the sport, and I can’t believe I actually made it. While it may look a lot different than how I had envisioned it at four years old, I still achieved my goals of swimming on the biggest stage, and I am so thankful for that.”

Ali Truwit

If Raleigh Crossley had a long journey to the Paralympics, Truwit had one of the shortest. In just over a year, she went from being an able-bodied swimmer on Yale’s team to a shark attack victim and partial leg amputee to Paralympic medalist.

The 24-year-old from Darien, Connecticut, won silver in the 400-meter freestyle S10 as well as the 100-meter backstroke S10.

“It’s surreal. It’s hard to put it into words,” she said after her second medal performance. “Especially when I open up my camera roll and look back at the photos from a year ago today where there’s fear all over my face learning to take my first steps in a prosthetic leg to now where I’m walking out in front of a crowd of thousands and thousands of people and walking away with another silver medal. It’s just a moment that’s hard to comprehend, honestly, but makes me feel proud of myself for the way I’ve faced this recovery and so grateful for the mountain of support that’s gotten me to where I am.”

Grace Nuhfer

Nuhfer had to miss the first couple weeks of her senior year at the University of Akron to be in Paris, but it was time well spent. Nuhfer won one of Team USA’s first swimming medals, taking silver in the 100-meter butterfly S13 on the first night of competition with a time of 1:03.88. She was just off the gold medal winning time of 1:03.27, posted by Italy’s Carlotta Gilli. “This is crazy,” Nuhfer, of Indianapolis, said in an interview on USA Network. “I don’t even know if it feels real yet that I am here in the first place, let alone now a medalist.”

Noah Jaffe

Jaffe took a year off from school at Cal, where he’s a biochemistry major, to focus on training for Paris. The result was a pair of medals — silver in the 100-meter freestyle S8 and bronze in the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle 34 points — in his Paralympic debut.

“It’s honestly hard to describe what this experience means to me,” the Carlsbad, California, native wrote on Instagram. “Swimming has always been my space to be myself and better my physical and mental health. Training for the day-to-day victories, big or small, is what keeps me going in the sport. Getting to represent my country on top of this is the biggest honor — I feel so privileged to be surrounded by so many like-minded humans as a part of Team USA.” 

Abbas Karimi, Zach Shattuck, Morgan Ray, Natalie Sims

Technically, this wasn’t Karimi’s first Paralympics, but it was his first Games competing as a member of Team USA after being part of the Refugee Paralympic Team in Tokyo … AND he came home with his first ever medals.

Karimi, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, joined another first-time medalist in each of his relays.

Two-time Paralympian Zach Shattuck of Mt. Airy, Maryland, joined Karimi as well as Ellie Marks and Leanne Smith to win the U.S. team’s first-ever medal in the mixed 4x50 freestyle relay 20 points, claiming silver. Both Marks and Smith had medaled in previous Games.

Karimi wrote, “First of all I want to say thank God for giving me this Gift, So I can be somebody in this world and have a purpose. I want to say thank you to Coach @coachmartyhendrick_sftl for always having my back. We went through hell this year but you never give up on me and our Goals we had and at end we made it happen. .🤜🏻🤛.”

Read his whole post here.

Karimi also won silver in the mixed 4x50 medley relay 20 points. He was joined by Marks, Smith and first-time Paralympian Morgan Ray, who just missed out on the podium with a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke SB6 earlier in the competition.

Ray, of St. Augustine, Florida, wrote on Instagram: “Embrace your journey. It’s not anyone else’s. It doesn’t have to be. Your journey is being written by the One who created everything.”

Meanwhile, Natalie Sims of Edina, Minnesota, waited until the last night of her third Paralympics to win her first medal.

The 27-year-old Sims joined with Raleigh Crossley, Matthew Torres and Jaffe to claim a bronze medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay 34 points. Theirs was Team USA’s 30th and final medal in the pool in Paris.

“We did what we came here to do,” Sims said, “which was get on that podium.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.