Nate Riech On His Comeback From A Brain Injury To Win Paralympic Gold And Looking To Add More In Paris

"The most pivotal moment of my life was when my doctor sat me down as kind of an exit interview from the hospital… He said, ‘Nate, you’re never going to walk without a limp, competitive sports are not in your future, and you're not going to graduate high school. I still get a tingling sensation all over my body just saying it. For me, I could take this one road that's pretty flat and I won't fail a lot and I'll just listen to him. Or I could take this winding road and I could fail a whole lot. A lot of tears were shed, for sure, but I could end up on top of the podium at the Paralympic Games, or I could achieve something that I'd always dreamed of. I was always a really big dreamer, so I decided to take that route. I got out of the hospital on Sunday and went to school on Monday. It was almost like a new life."

Nate Riech won gold in the T38 category for the 1500m at his first Paralympic Games in Tokyo and is now back to defend his title. He is also an Asics-sponsored pro athlete and won the gold medal at last year’s World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.

In this episode, he shares his career story including the story of when he was 10 years old and an accident on a golf course changed the trajectory of his life. He was diagnosed with a brain injury that affected the right side of his body. He comes from a super athletic family that includes NHL players and Olympians, which only motivated him even more to set out and write his own legacy in the Paralympic movement. He also shares his hopes for carrying the momentum from the Olympic Games to the Paralympics.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Guest: Nate Graywolf Riech | ⁠⁠⁠⁠@nategraywolf on Instagram⁠⁠

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