Paralympics

When Brad Snyder swims, he can't see the water. He can't see his opposition, he can't see the clock and, most importantly, he can't see the wall. But by just visualizing himself in the pool, Snyder is now London-bound. The 28-year-old Snyder lost his vision after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan last September while serving as a bomb defuser in the Navy. But earlier this month, less than a year since losing his vision permanently, he was named to the United States Paralympic swimming roster.

Clarksville resident Tatyana McFadden won the women's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon on Monday, hours before the race was marred by deadly explosions near the finish line. Though McFadden added to her resume as one of the elite Paralympic athletes in the world, her achievement was rapidly overshadowed by scenes of blood and mayhem. She tweeted that she was unharmed, about an hour after the initial reports of the explosions. "I am okay my family and teammates are okay," she wrote.

Don't talk to Joe Singleton about his limitations.He would rather shift the conversation to his achievements, his goals, his dreams.Singleton has much to talk about. Like the martial arts black belt he earned two years ago. Or the college degree he plans to earn soon. Or the trip he is about to make to Barcelona, Spain next month, when he will represent the United States Disabled Sports Team as a power lifter in the Paralympics, the international Olympic equivalent for wheelchair athletes.

Et cetera Snyder, McFadden win Paralympic gold Baltimore's Brad Snyder , 28, won his second gold medal of the London Paralympics on Friday, a year to the day after he was blinded by an improvised explosive device while serving with the Navy in Afghanistan. "It is an emotional day, but it's kind of a day of celebration," Snyder said after winning the 400-meter freestyle S11 gold in 4 minutes, 32.41 seconds, by a margin of 5.83. "I zeroed my focus on performance and was able to put a lot of the emotions away.

For 30 minutes they swim together, two strangers lapping the pool in adjacent lanes at the Merritt Athletic Club in Towson. Finally, the older woman climbs out and slumps on the deck, in awe of the teenager still plugging away. "She just keeps going, doesn't she?" the woman says. A man standing nearby nods. "You know," he says, "she has no legs." The woman's expression tells all. Jessica Long has wowed another. Today, Long, of Middle River, will try to wow the world at the XIII Summer Paralympics in Beijing - the Olympic Games for disabled athletes.

For the first time in her memory, Jessica Long dreaded swimming. With high school coming to an end, her friends cut loose -- bonfires, movie nights. It all sounded so fun and Long, a seven-time Paralympic gold medalist, had to skip out so she could hit the pool at the crack of dawn. "It was bad," she recalls two years later. "I wasn't happy. " Few could have guessed it given her bounty of medals, but Long felt she had failed at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. She had promised seven gold medals to anyone who would listen, plastering the number all over her bedroom in Middle River.

County Executive Charles I. Ecker has declared today "Larry Hughes Day" in Howard County in honor of the Columbia resident who won the gold medal for discus throwing in the 1996 Paralympic Games last month in Atlanta."

A Beijing-bound athlete from Maryland is featured on McDonald's beverage cups, but it's not Michael Phelps. Instead, it's Tatyana McFadden, a wheelchair sprint racer from Howard County who also is featured in a television commercial for Hilton Hotels Corp. McFadden, 19, a member of the U.S. Paralympics team that will compete in China in September, had limited endorsement opportunities when she competed in Athens four years ago. But since then, she and other disabled athletes have noticed a marked rise in corporate sponsorship opportunities.

WASHINGTON - The clinic for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center on Wednesday night had nothing to do with doctors. Members of past and present U.S. Paralympic squads and other wheelchair athletes buzzed up and down the hardwood at Wagner Sports Center to make a point: Sports can be part of your life no matter what your disability. "This is life beginning again," said John Register, who won the silver medal in the long jump at the 2000 Paralympics after an injury forced the amputation of his left leg. "That's what we want to show these soldiers.

Jessica Long can imagine her response the first time she sees her face on a national soft drink display in the supermarket. "I'm pretty sure I'll scream and say, 'This is me!' " said Long, 19, the seven-time Paralympics swimming gold medalist from Middle River. "To see myself on a can of Coke will be exciting. " One of eight U.S. athletes chosen by Coca-Cola for a high-profile ad campaign to highlight the 2012 London Olympics, Long spent Tuesday at a pool in a fitness center in Concord, Mass., splashing and smiling for photographers.

Laurel Park Jazzy Idea captures Jameela in record time Owner-trainer Edwin Merryman 's Jazzy Idea swept past the leaders in the deep stretch Wednesday and set a course record in the $100,000 Jameela Stakes, the opening-day feature of the Laurel Park fall meeting. Ridden by Luis Garcia and sent to post at even money against eight other Maryland-bred fillies and mares, Jazzy Idea completed the distance over the firm turf in 1 minute, 7.45 seconds to better the mark set by Chasin Tiger in 2007.

Paralympics McFadden 1st in preliminary round of 800 meters T54 Tatyana McFadden (Atholton) won Round 1 of the women's 800 meters T54 at the London Paralympics on Tuesday, finishing in 1 minute, 47.66 seconds. She will compete in the final today. Women's swimming: Jessica Long , formerly of Middle River, won the silver medal in the 100 backstroke S8. Long surged from third place at the halfway mark and finished in 1:18.67. Earlier in the day, she won the heat in 1:21.75.

Swimming Long sets Paralympic record in 100 fly Jessica Long , who grew up in Middle River, broke a Paralympic record in winning the S8 women's 100-meter butterfly Thursday in London. Long, who had both lower legs amputated before age 2, finished in 1 minute, 10.32 seconds - 1.21 seconds in front of Kateryna Istomina of Ukraine. Shengnan Jiang of China was third, 2.96 seconds behind Long. Long, who won four golds in 2008 and three in 2004, will swim in as many as nine events in the London Games, which began Wednesday.

For the first time in her memory, Jessica Long dreaded swimming. With high school coming to an end, her friends cut loose -- bonfires, movie nights. It all sounded so fun and Long, a seven-time Paralympic gold medalist, had to skip out so she could hit the pool at the crack of dawn. "It was bad," she recalls two years later. "I wasn't happy. " Few could have guessed it given her bounty of medals, but Long felt she had failed at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. She had promised seven gold medals to anyone who would listen, plastering the number all over her bedroom in Middle River.

Maybe you've seen the ads. They've been all over TV and in magazines like Time and Sports Illustrated. There is U.S. Paralympian Tatyana McFadden in her sleek titanium racing wheelchair, hunched over in mid-push, shoulder muscles rippling, a look of fierce determination on her face. The ads, from petroleum giant BP, call her "Lady Velocity" and carry the tag line "Team USA: Fueling Their Future. " Which is fitting, in a way. Because whatever is fueling Tatyana McFadden - whatever is pumping through her heart and coursing through her veins and energizing that ripped torso - medical science might want to study it someday.

Jessica Long has had to overcome obstacles all of her life. The field she had to beat out to win an ESPY on Wednesday night for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability was a tough one, filled with some remarkable athletes. Long, who had to have her legs amputated when she was just 18 months old in Russia where she was born, triumphed once again, winning the award for the second time. The swimmer is the second repeat winner in the award's history. Long grew up in Middle River after emigrating from Russia.

Clarksville resident Tatyana McFadden won the women's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon on Monday, hours before the race was marred by deadly explosions near the finish line. Though McFadden added to her resume as one of the elite Paralympic athletes in the world, her achievement was rapidly overshadowed by scenes of blood and mayhem. She tweeted that she was unharmed, about an hour after the initial reports of the explosions. "I am okay my family and teammates are okay," she wrote.

Disabled rally for Paralympics in '96Leaders of the disabled sports community are pushingAtlanta Olympic officials to play host to the Paralympics even though it was left out of the budget for the 1996 Games.The Paralympics are a multimillion-dollar festival for 3,000 athletes that has been held in conjunction with every Olympics since 1960.Los Angeles' 1984 bid, however, did not include the Paralympics, which were split that year between New York and England.It's also not in the budget for the Atlanta Games, and spokesman Bob Brennan said, "The cost seems prohibitive unless someone provides the funding, and we don't have anyone coming in to give us money for this."

When Brad Snyder swims, he can't see the water. He can't see his opposition, he can't see the clock and, most importantly, he can't see the wall. But by just visualizing himself in the pool, Snyder is now London-bound. The 28-year-old Snyder lost his vision after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan last September while serving as a bomb defuser in the Navy. But earlier this month, less than a year since losing his vision permanently, he was named to the United States Paralympic swimming roster.

Daniel Romanchuk gives you a blank stare when you try and explain to him why he is an inspiration. He looks confused - why would anybody care to see him race, legs tucked under him, neck crammed forward, and be inspired? He's just a kid who likes to race. Daniel, 13, can tell you the name of the disease that robbed him of the use of his legs before birth - spina bifida - but he can't tell you anything about it. It's not important, and he doesn't care. If Daniel cared about the spina bifida, then maybe he wouldn't have started swimming independently at age 3. Maybe he wouldn't have started at the Bennett Blazers Physically Challenged Sports program when he was 2 years old, training in a range of sports from basketball to sled hockey.