Tatyana McFadden, whose real name is Татьяна Макфаддeн, is an American Paralympian athlete who competes in the T54 category. Throughout several Summer Paralympic Games, McFadden has earned twenty Paralympic medals. She is also qualified for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
USA Para Track And Field Athlete Tatyana McFadden qualifies for the Paris Paralympics 2024
Tatyana McFadden has qualified for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games through her exceptional athletic performances and achievements. As a 20-time Paralympic medalist and a well-known figure in the Paralympic movement, she has been a strong advocate for equality and inclusion for people with disabilities.
Moreover, her extensive experience as a six-time Paralympian and her continuous follow of athletic excellence has solidified her position as a top contender, leading to her qualification for the Paris Paralympics in 2024. For this 23-time world champion and 24-time World Major Marathon title holder, qualifying for the Paris Games was the main goal for the recent race.
“I’m so excited,” “Making the 2024 Paris Paralympic marathon team was the big goal for today’s race. I’ve had a really great season, winning three world championship events in sprinting events and now qualifying for the marathon team. It’s a really great package to bring home this year. Hopefully I can put everything together next year and win some medals in Paris.”
McFadden said.
When did Tatyana McFadden’s Mother Leave her?
Tatyana McFadden was born on April 21, 1989, in Leningrad, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Her hometown is Baltimore, Maryland. She was born with spina bifida, a health condition that left her paralyzed from the waist down. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 45 kg.
Even though Tatyana was adopted by Deborah McFadden, she also has two sisters named Hannah McFadden and Ruthi McFadden. After her birth mother left her in an orphanage that could not afford a wheelchair for her, Tatyana had to walk on her hands for the first six years of her life. She is coached by Eileen Carey in Nordic skiing and Adam Bleakney in track and field. Tatyana began racing when she was 8 years old.
The doctors had told Tatyana that she was very sick and would not live much longer. While she was in the orphanage, she met Deborah McFadden, who was visiting Russia as a commissioner for disabilities at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Deborah and her partner Bridget O’Shaughnessy adopted Tatyana and brought her to live in Baltimore.
Tatyana attended Atholton High School in Columbia, Maryland, graduating in 2008. She then went to the University of Illinois, where she studied Human Development and Family Studies, was a member of the Theta chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma, and was on the university’s wheelchair basketball team. Her coach at the University of Illinois was Adam Bleakney, who was also a wheelchair racer.
As she was growing up, Tatyana took part in various sports like swimming, gymnastics, wheelchair basketball, sled hockey, and track and field, in order to build up her strength.
Tatyana McFadden is diagnosed with Spina bifida
Tatyana McFadden was born with a condition called spina bifida. Spina bifida is a problem with the spine that someone is born with, and it is usually noticeable at birth. It is a type of birth defect that affects the spine.
Spina bifida can happen anywhere along the spine if the tube that should close doesn’t fully close. When that tube doesn’t close all the way, the bone that is supposed to protect the spinal cord doesn’t form and close properly. This often leads to damage to the spinal cord and the nerves.
Because of this condition, Tatyana had to spend the first six years of her life in a Russian orphanage without a wheelchair. She had to learn to walk on her hands in order to keep up with the other children.
Tatyana’s condition led to her being adopted by Deborah McFadden, who brought her to the United States. Deborah gave Tatyana opportunities to participate in sports programs, which helped her build up her strength. Tatyana eventually found her passion in wheelchair racing, and she was very good at it because of the powerful arms and hands she had developed as a young child.
How did she enter at US National Team? Her Career Beginning
In 2003, Tatyana became a member of the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Team.
In 2004, she competed in the Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, where she won a silver medal in the women’s 100 meters T54 event, a bronze medal in the women’s 200 meters T54 event, finished fifth in the women’s 400 meters T54 event, and was eliminated in the first round of the women’s 800 meters T54 event.
In 2005, Tatyana and her adoptive mother Deborah McFadden filed a lawsuit against the Howard County Public School System, and they won the right for Tatyana to race at the same time as the other runners, even though her score would not count for her team.
In 2006, Tatyana won a gold medal in the 100 meters (world record) and two silver medals in the 200 meters and 400 meters at the IPC World Championships in Assen, Netherlands.
In 2007, Tatyana secured three second-place finishes in the 200 meters, 400 meters, and 800 meters at the “Meet in the Heat” event in Atlanta, Georgia, and two first-place finishes in the 200 meters and 800 meters at the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships, also in Atlanta. She also won the 200-meter (world record) at the Boiling Point Wheelchair Track Classic in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
In 2008, Tatyana competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China, where she won a silver medal in the women’s 200 meters T54 event, a silver medal in the women’s 400 meters T54 event, a silver medal in the women’s 800 meters T54 event, a bronze medal in the women’s 4×100 meter relay T53-54 event, and finished sixth in the women’s 100 meters T54 event.
National Championships
In 2009, Tatyana started specializing in shorter distance sprints, and unexpectedly won the Chicago Marathon that year, the first of many marathon victories, including in New York City in 2010, Chicago and London in 2011, and Boston and New York in 2015.
In 2010 and 2011, Tatyana won the Open Women’s Division of the Shepherd Center Wheelchair Division of the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta.
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In 2012, Tatyana and her sister Hannah competed in the same Paralympic final (100m T54 event) at the London 2012 Paralympics. Tatyana was also involved in an unsuccessful effort against a 2012 Russian law prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by American parents. She also won the Open Women’s Division of the Shepherd Center Wheelchair Division of the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta that year.
Tatyana McFadden’s Professional Career and Her Olympics Journey
In 2013, Tatyana McFadden became the first athlete to win six gold medals in a single championship during the IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon. She won gold in every event from the 100 meters to the 5,000 meters. That year, she also won the Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City marathons.
In 2014, McFadden started the year by returning to Russia, the country of her birth, to compete in the Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi. She won a silver medal in the 1 km sprint sitting cross-country skiing event and finished 5th in the 12 km event. Just over a month later, she defended her title at the London Marathon, setting a new course record.
In 2015, McFadden won the New York City Marathon, breaking the women’s course record by over 7 minutes with a time of 1 hour, 43 minutes and 4 seconds. She also won the Open Women’s Division of the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta and the women’s wheelchair division of the New York City Marathon.
In 2016, Tatyana won the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta and the London Marathon wheelchair division. She also won a silver medal in the 100 meters at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
McFadden won the Chicago Marathon in 2017 and the Boston Marathon in 2018.
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, Tatyana won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter universal relay, a silver medal in the 800-meter, and a bronze medal in the 5,000-meter. She also placed 4th in the 400-meter and 5th in the 1,500-meter and marathon.
In 2021, McFadden won the Chicago Marathon for the 9th time. She also won the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta that year.
