Team USA Paralympian McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Georgia) finished her fourth Paralympic Games on Friday morning placing thirteenth in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S7 at 40:03. Coan earned her seventh Paralympic medal in Paris, winning silver in the 400-meter Freestyle S7. Coan competed in four events during the Paralympic Games.
Team USA won a total of 30 medals, four on the final day in the Paris 2024 swimming competition.
Coan posted on Facebook:
“I can’t help but take some time to reflect on everything it took to get here. A year ago, at this time, I was at home with Bell’s palsy, unable to swim, and only leaving my apartment to go to physical therapy and acupuncture appointments.
It was one of the hardest times of my life and I wondered if I would ever be back at another Games or any meet for that matter.
It took everything in me and everyone around me to get me here to my fourth Paralympic Games, and I’m so thankful for my amazing support system.”
In the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, Coan competed in the 400m Freestyle S7 – Women. She won the Silver Medal in this event. She also competed in the 100m Freestyle S7 – Women and took 5th place. In the 50m Freestyle S8 – Women she was 12th and Coan was 13th in her final event 50m Butterfly S7.
The 28-year-old Coan is now a seven-time medalist, having earned four gold and three silver medals since her 2012 Paralympic debut in London.
RELATED: Paralympic swimmer does not live by others expectations
Coan published a memoir in 2021, “Breaking Free: Shattering Expectations and Thriving with Ambition in Pursuit of Gold.”
McKenzie tells in her memoir how she finds strength through swimming. Even though there are limited expectations placed on her because of the issues she deals with by having osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, she has adopted a spirit to never quit.
McKenzie has had to break through the barriers of disability and live a life of hope on the Paralympic stage and beyond.
“Keep going. It is so worth it. I’ve had my hard moments in the pool before, too, but keep going. A champion’s mindset isn’t always about breaking records and winning gold medals. What makes a champion is going out on your lowest day or on the day that you fail or the day that you lose and still giving your all, still giving your best and refusing to quit.”
Next on her list is possibly law school as she finishes another successful Olympics and looks to the future.
