At the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, there were 400 athletes representing 23 countries. Sixty-four years later, participation has multiplied 11-fold, as 4,400 athletes are set to compete in 22 sports at this year’s Paris Paralympic Games.
The opening ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday along the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue and the action runs through Sept. 8. Here’s every Maryland athlete competing in the 2024 Summer Paralympics:
Wheelchair basketball
Trevon Jenifer, Huntingtown
A Team USA feature story likened Jenifer’s offensive mastery to “a cross between Speedy Gonzales and the Tasmanian Devil” and described his defense as a whirling dervish. The 35-year-old with congenital amputation and two gold medals began playing wheelchair basketball in 1992 with team Air Capital in Washington. He then played professionally for two years in France.
Before his junior year at Huntingtown High School, Jenifer began wrestling. The novice competed against his peers and finished third in his weight class as a senior at Maryland’s state tournament. At 17, he wrote an autobiography called “From the Ground Up” detailing his athletic pursuits and physical setbacks.