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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