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The Silver Lining<br />

<strong>MPH</strong> Parent Jill Walsh wins two silver medals in Rio<br />

handle things: ‘This isn’t working; what do I<br />

do now?’ ”<br />

With this mentality, she used different<br />

treatments for the symptoms: electric<br />

stimulators, numerous leg braces, wearing<br />

a different shoe on each foot. Eventually,<br />

however, Walsh had to give up activities that<br />

became too difficult, such as triathlons. She<br />

continued cycling but struggled with balance:<br />

every time she slowed down to stop her bike,<br />

she fell over.<br />

“I was pretty miserable because I thought<br />

my time riding a two-wheel bike was over,”<br />

Walsh said.<br />

But at the<br />

2013 Challenged<br />

Athletes Foundation’s<br />

Million<br />

Dollar Bike Ride in<br />

California, Walsh<br />

saw Paralympian<br />

Steven Peace<br />

riding an upright<br />

trike, a racing<br />

bicycle with two<br />

wheels in back instead<br />

of one. They<br />

got in touch, and<br />

Peace urged Walsh<br />

to race competitively<br />

in the parasport circuit. (“Para” stands<br />

for sports made “para”-llel to able-bodied<br />

athletics through adjustments.)<br />

With teenagers still in the house, Walsh<br />

was hesitant, but she eventually gave it a try.<br />

After taking her last ride on a two-wheeled<br />

bike in the fall of 2013, she switched to a<br />

trike. Soon, she was medaling at the Para National<br />

Championships and then at the World<br />

Championships.<br />

By 2015, Walsh had already qualified to<br />

be part of the U.S. Rio Team; she prepped<br />

for the competition as she does for any other<br />

event, attending Rio training sessions, cycling<br />

four days a week, and spending two days each<br />

week working on core strength, balance and<br />

swimming.<br />

And in the end, the work paid off, as she<br />

stood proudly during the medal ceremony<br />

after winning silver medals in the Rio Road<br />

Race and Time Trial events.<br />

“When you have the Team USA uniform<br />

on,” she said. “and you’re standing there and<br />

you see our flag go up, you just feel so proud.<br />

It’s a pretty amazing feeling.”<br />

Walsh’s trainer Ed Ten Eyck said she is<br />

one of the most humble yet competitive people<br />

he knows.<br />

“Her work ethic and desire to not give<br />

in to MS and always find a way to stay active<br />

is amazing and<br />

inspiring,” he said<br />

in an email.<br />

As is<br />

tradition, Walsh<br />

and the rest of the<br />

Olympians traveled<br />

to the White<br />

House after the<br />

Games. She got<br />

teary-eyed before<br />

it was her turn to<br />

greet President<br />

Obama.<br />

“The President<br />

Photo courtesy of The White House<br />

Jill Walsh meets President Barack Obama in the Blue Room on Sept. 29 as part of the<br />

U.S. Olympic team.<br />

said, ‘Oh, you got<br />

a lot of bling,’ ”<br />

Walsh said. “Michelle gave me a big hug, and<br />

of course, with Joe Biden, I said, ‘I’m from<br />

Syracuse,’ and he gave me a really big hug.”<br />

But with the excitement from Rio starting<br />

to simmer down, Walsh is currently focusing<br />

on her activities in Syracuse: biking with local<br />

bike clubs and volunteering, including at the<br />

Campus Shop.<br />

It all ties into her mantra to “live in the<br />

moment,” since she doesn’t know how MS<br />

will impact her life in the future.<br />

“It’ll be a day [when] I can’t do this, but<br />

today’s not that day,” she said, “so I’m going to<br />

take advantage of it.”<br />

With that, maybe she’ll take another<br />

spin at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.<br />

winter 2017 | 7

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