When Spc. Alison Weisz won the women’s 10-meter air rifle event at the 2022 International Shooting Sport Federation World Championship in Cairo in October, she became the first American woman to win the title in a rifle event since 1979.
Weisz’s win also earned her a spot to represent the U.S. in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
From retired Maj. Shawn Morelli’s first medal for Team USA in track cycling to Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Marks’ record-breaking gold medal performance, soldier-athletes shone at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Three active-duty soldiers and at least 16 veterans from across the services represented Team USA at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which concluded Sept. 5.
In total, Team USA’s active-duty or former service members brought home nine medals.
Three soldier-athletes will represent the U.S. and the Army in the upcoming Paralympics in Tokyo.
Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Marks, a swimmer who won gold and bronze at the 2016 Paralympic Games, and Staff Sgt. John Wayne Joss III and Staff Sgt. Kevin Nguyen, who will both compete in shooting, are members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.
Army Reserve 1st Lt. Amber English became the first U.S. service member to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics following her record-breaking first-place finish in women’s shotgun skeet on July 26.
English hit 56 of 60 targets, setting an Olympic record and edging out the 2016 women’s skeet gold medalist Diana Bacosi, of Italy, by one target. She is the second American to win gold in skeet.
Soldier-athletes made a small contribution to a record medals haul for the United States in the recent 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Spc. Paul Chelimo, a water-treatment specialist with a little over two years in uniform, had the best performance among the soldiers who competed in the games, winning a silver medal in the 5,000-meter track race—but not without a bit of controversy.
