asketball, uSA
Season 3
5
1
23-year old Qatari track star Kenza Sossé, qualified for Tokyo, and then days before her flight to Japan, tested positive for COVID-19. After years training for the Olympics, she had watch from a room in Morocco. Her response? She “went back to training harder than ever.” In today’s conversation, Kenza Sossé shares for the first time publicly about the pain of her Olympic dreams being deferred and how she has channeled her frustration into progress towards Paris. Kenza also shares about her commitment to the Arab Women’s Movement and common misconceptions about the Arab world including the idea that Arab women are always “in the kitchen, taking care of the babies.” Citing her two business startups and the book she wrote, she replies, “My babies are my businesses right now, my book and my sport. So if these count as my babies, then yes, I am a very typical Arab woman. ” Production team’s favorite quote: “After hearing my story, every listener will be thinking of a passion or something they’ve always wanted to do. My last message will be to do it. To start whatever it is that comes to mind. Do not be afraid of failure.”
Contributing guests include Vanessa El Jammal (Kenza’s Best Friend) and Ghita Sossé (Kenza’s Sister). Clips used from the following sources: – n beats’ YouTube Channel, ‘Stadium Crowd Sound Effects | One Hour | HQ’
Taylor has been in the pool since age 4, when her mom (a swim coach) and older sister (also a swimmer) first introduced her to the water. A D1 recruit at Loyola University Maryland, Taylor was gearing up to make a splash at the collegiate level. She was then diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition characterized by joint pain, loose joints, and hypermobility. According to Taylor, this period of her life was both physically and emotionally excruciating. She shares how she needed to “mourn the life [I] lost but also realize that [I] gained a new life.”
Hearing how important swimming was to her, Taylor’s physical therapist encouraged her to return to the water. One day when at the Loyola pool, the swim coach who recruited her suggested Taylor explore para swimming. This recommendation changed Taylor’s life.
Flash forward to today and Taylor is a 2x S10 American Record Holder and 7x Parapan Games medalist. As Taylor looks to the future, she hopes to see a world in which women are “valued like the men.” She also shares how she hopes to become a Mom and how “women can be strong and powerful” while also at the top of their sport.
Alejandra is the Dominican Republic’s first female Paralympic swimmer, a Parapan American silver medalist, engineer, dog mom, and as she shares, “a 4’3” tall girl promoting inclusion.”
When not swimming (which she does 4-5 hours a day), Alejandra works for the International Paralympic Committee, making sport more accessible for all. As if that’s not enough, she’s also writing her masters thesis. When asked how she juggles it all, she shares that she’s driven by her why. She knows exactly why she’s waking up so early and has crystal clear goals.
In today’s conversation, we talk about her hopes for Paris2024, and Ale shares big news — she’s preparing for her retirement post-Paralympics! She also debunks some of the misconceptions about the Paralympics:
1. Paralympians are elite athletes NOT recreational athletes
2. She’s competing in the Paralympics NOT Olympics (they are different!).
Manasi Joshi has won 10 gold, 9 silver and 15 bronze medals at level 1 international tournaments. She’s a former World Champion (SL3), an engineer, an Arjuna award winner, Aspen Fellow, and has spoken at Harvard.
As Manasi approaches the Paris Paralympics, she’s feeling “stronger than ever.” That said, she’s pauses to flag HOW she hopes journalists and the media should talk about her, or rather how they shouldn’t. She shares, “I don’t want to be called inspirational because I happen to play the sport with a disability. I want to be called inspirational because I put in the same amount of time and effort and show up every day.” Manasi shares that she’d rather have a short column than pages in a magazine focusing on how she’s an inspiration because of her disability.
She’s more than a headline that pulls at people’s heartstrings: she’s an elite athlete who dominates international tournaments and puts in the blood, sweat and tears to make it to the top.
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