There are at least 38 LGBTQ+ athletes competing at the 2024 Paralympics that started Wednesday in Paris. We’ve spotlighted a few for you to root for, though all 38 deserve your cheers!
- Josie Aslakson
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
Country: USA
Aslakson has been part of the USA Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team for many years and was part of the bronze medal team at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.
- Hailey Danz
Sport: Para Triathlon
Country: USA
Two-time silver medalist Danz used learning her sport after her leg amputation as an outlet to deal with her feelings of shame around coming out to herself.
- Kaitlyn Eaton
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
Country: USA
Eaton, nicknamed “Squirrel,” has been part of Team USA since 2017, including winning bronze in the 2021 Games.
- Anu Francis
Sport: Para Triathlon
Country: Australia
After trying para badminton and para rowing, Francis found para triathlon despite not knowing how to bike or swim. Less than four years after her first time competing, Francis enters the Games ranked number two in the world.
- Mar Gunnarsson
Sport: Para Swimming
Country: Iceland
The holder of multiple records in para swimming, Gunnarsson is also a singer-songwriter.
- Alana Maldonado
Sport: Judo
Country: Brazil
Maldonado has already won a gold and a silver at previous Paralympics. Her girlfriend is also a judoka.
- Valentina Petrillo
Sport: Para Track and Field
Country:: Italy
Petrillo, 50, is the first ever openly transgender athlete to compete at a Paralympics.
- Courtney Ryan
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball
Country: USA
Ryan was a star soccer player before an in-game injury left her paralyzed from the waist down, leading her to find wheelchair basketball. She was also on the 2021 bronze-medal team.
- Lauren Rowles
Sport: Para Rowing
Country: UK
After waking up paralyzed from the waist down one day when she was 13, Rowles started her career as an elite athlete at the age of 14.
- Maria “Maz” Strong
Sport: Women’s Shot Put
Country: Australia
Strong is a medalist from the Tokyo Paralympics and may be the only out nonbinary competitor in Paris.
- Ben Weekes
Sport: Wheelchair Tennis
Country: Australia
This will be the sixth Paralympics for Weekes, 39, who has competed in every Summer Paralympics since 2004 when he was 19.
