Black swimmers earn trips to second Paralympics

Minneapolis last week was the final stop on the journey to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.  Downtown Minneapolis was renamed 2024 Gymnastics City USA as the USA Olympic gymnastics trials and other related events took place. Just a few miles away at the University of Minnesota, the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials for swimming was held at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. The MSR covered both Olympic-related events for the first time.

Paralympics is a series of domestic and international contests for athletes with disabilities that usually is held the same year as the Summer and Winter Olympics and at the same site. This year, it’s in August in Paris.

Jamal Hill was among notable Paralympic legends and one of hundreds of swimmers who competed for spots on the 2024 USA Paralympic Team. He and Lawrence Sapp were the only Black swimmers we found during last week’s three-day event on the Minnesota campus. Both also were victorious in their respective events.

Now 29, Hill is considered among the world’s best Paralympic athletes, but for many years as he grew up he wondered if he would be able to swim competitively due to a condition he contracted at age 10. He was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), a hereditary neurological condition. As a result, he kept his condition a secret from almost everyone. It wasn’t until he became an adult that he finally learned it was called CMT.

As an infant, Hill’s mother wanted her son to learn to swim to avoid the age-old axiom that Black people are scared of the water. She enrolled him in a YMCA swimming class, where Jamal first developed his love of swimming.

“My mom never learned how to swim. So, when I was a baby…ultimately swimming became my first love from there.” Hill began swimming competitively as early as elementary school, he recalled, and kept swimming all through high school and three years of college before he quit to train for the Olympics. He also learned from his current coach Wilma Wong that he could effectively compete even with his disability, and he didn’t have to keep it a secret.

“I’m definitely at the top,” said a very confident Hill, who became only the second Black American to win a Paralympic medal. “My first Paralympic Games and I won a bronze medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle (in Tokyo in 2020),” he pointed out.

Because of CMT, his ability to walk, let alone swim, could come to an end. Hill said he doesn’t take anything for granted, especially competing.

“Lawrence started swimming when he was four years old,” explained Dee Sapp, Lawrence’s mother. “We got him into swimming because he was non-verbal—he has autism and an intellectual disability. Learning to swim for him was a life skill.”

“It’s been a long journey for him,” added Lawrence’s father Carlton.

Hill and Sapp were named Sunday to the 12-man USA Paralympic Team.

“I feel good to head to Paris…and bring home some gold,” Hill told us after the team announcement. Both Black swimmers are appearing in their second Paralympic Games.  “Lawrence is like a younger brother that I never had,” said Hill. “The dude got a lot of spirit, and as long as we can channel that into swimming…keep your eyes on him and keep your eyes on me.”

Added Sapp, “I have been working so hard to get to my second Paralympic Games. I look forward to the race and be up on the podium in Paris.”

“I’m happy for him, and I am happy for Jamal,” said Carlton Sapp. “I’m hoping that this inspires others, especially others in our community to come out to the Games.”

“He is looking forward to getting a podium finish this time,” added Dee Sapp of their son Lawrence.

She too pointed out how important it is that both Black swimmers made the USA team. “It’s extra special because representation does matter,” she said. “A lot of people don’t get to see Black athletes succeed at this level, so it’s very important and exciting.”

Being a USA team member “representing not only myself and the Black community, but for the country when I get up on that block,” said Hill. “There’s no longer Jamal Hill. There’s only Team USA.”