Wounded veteran helps Team USA to paratriathlon sweep on 9/11
Melissa Stockwell competes -- and wins, as she did on Sunday -- with a "Never Forget 9/11/01" sticker on her bike.
She was in the ROTC in Colorado when the Twin Towers fell; in 2004, she would serve in Iraq, where she became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat -- in this case, her leg to a roadside bomb.
On Sunday, the 15th anniversary of 9/11, she helped Team USA sweep the medals in the paratriathlon at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
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Allysa Seely took the gold, Hailey Danisewicz the silver, and Stockwell got the bronze. This is the first year the paratriathlon has been an event at the Paralympic Games. The race consists of a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and 5-kilometer run.
While Paralympic regulations don't allow for decorations like Stockwell's sticker, she got around them by covering it with blue electrical tape.
"I know it's under there, so I'll be imagining it," she told the Associated Press before the race.
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This isn't the first time Stockwell has won something; she already has a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal. Her Paralympic medal, however, will also look pretty good on the mantle.
"I want to be known more for not what happened to me," she said, "but what I did with my injury after it happened."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Topics Olympics
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
