MeiMei White has been added to the USA Swimming roster for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games following the withdrawal of Becca Meyers.
Meyers withdrew from the meet last month following a decision by the US Paralympic Committee that limited her ability to bring her mother to the Games with her to function as her caretaker.
White, who is only 17-years-old, specializes in the 400m Freestyle, 200m IM, and 100 Breast. She competes in the S9 class and is the reigning Para Pan American Games Champion in the 100 breaststroke. She has never competed at an IPC World Championships, so it will be her first time racing at a major international competition of that level.
White suffers from a femoral focal deficiency of her right leg, which resulted in her getting that knee amputated above the knee. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a femoral focal deficiency is a “complex birth defect in which the upper part of the femur bone (in the thigh) is either malformed or missing, causing one leg to be shorter than the other.” It is an uncommon deficiency, which only affects about 1 in every 200,000 children.
At the 2016 Paralympic Games, the United States brought home a total of 115 medals, including 40 golds. The swim team contributed 37 of these medals, with 14 gold medals.
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are set to kick-off on August 24, 2021 and will run until September 5, 2021, with all swimming events held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Currently, the US Paralympic Team is training at the Yokota Airbase in Tokyo in order to alleviate their quarantine restrictions. They will remain there until August 20, at which point the team will move into the Olympic Village.
Full Paralympic Swimming Roster for Tokyo
Men
- David Abrahams
- Evan Austin
- Parker Egbert
- Rudy Garcia-Tolson
- Robert Griswold
- Jamal Hill
- Joey Peppersack
- Lawrence Sapp
- Zachary Shattuck
- Matthew Torres
Women
- Hannah Aspden
- McKenzie Coan
- Cailin Currie
- Julia Gaffney
- McClain Hermes
- Sophia Herzog
- Mikaela Jenkins
- Keegan Knott
- Ahalya Lettenberger
- Jessica Long
- Elizabeth Marks
Rebecca Meyers- Makayla Nietzel
- Anastasia Pagonis
- Gia Pergolini
- Martha Ruether
- Summer Schmit
- Haven Shepherd
- Natalie Sims
- Leanne Smith
- Elizabeth Smith
- Morgan Stickney
- Mallory Weggemann
- MeiMei White
- Colleen Young
So they didn’t try to accommodate Meyers and her mother? Seems like a weird conclusion
Good luck to White, hopefully she has a great Paralympics! The USOC’s decision not to allow Ms. Meyers, a blind deaf athlete, to bring her own assistant after she was left abandoned and starving in Rio is unconscionable.