Disclaimer: This is sponsored content. All opinions and views are of the City of Colorado Springs and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum and does not reflect the same of KOAA.
Kendall Gretsch can do it all. The USA Paralympian made her Paralympic debut back in 2018 in Nordic Skiing during the Winter Games, claiming two gold medals. But this summer, she will be changing course and competing in triathlon in the Paralympic Summer Games in Tokyo.
Kendall was born with spina bifida, but she has never let this keep her from playing the game, and from playing the game well.
The athlete grew up swimming and from here she fell in love with several sports. However, it was not until her sophomore year of college when she joined a local paratriathlon club, known as Dare2Tri.
From here, she fell in love with the sport and never looked back. Over the years, her challenging work has not gone unnoticed. Kendall was named USA Triathlon Female Paratriathlete of the Year in 2014, and the next task in Tokyo is something she is looking forward to.
“I mean it’s just so fun and it’s really cool to be able to, especially internationally when you’re representing yourself, your family and your country; so it’s just a really cool and unique experience I realize that not a lot of people get the opportunity to do. So I just feel grateful a lot of the time what I’m racing,” said Gretsch.
“It’s hard not to say the goal is to win and to get gold but honestly I really just want to have a race that I’m proud of and execute a race that I know I’m capable of, so I think if I'm able to do that, I'll be really happy with the experience.”
Kendall is a Three-time ITU Paratriathlon World Champion. She says her teammates help motivate her and she is incredibly thankful to have them.
Kendall says waiting an extra year to compete has proven to be helpful for her. She says she spent the time to fine-tune her skills.