Nate Riech completed his journey from Victoria to the top of the Tokyo Paralympics podium Saturday with gold in the men鈥檚 T37-T38 track 1,500-metres.
But it was a longer trek than just across the Pacific. It began at age 10 when Riech was hit by an errant golf ball, launched from 150 yards away, while playing with friends on a course in Arizona. It caused a brain injury that affected the left side of his body with paralysis.
鈥淚 felt like I got too concentrated on winning gold, so my sport psychologist and I came up with: 鈥楯ust try to make that 10-year-old me who was paralyzed in a hospital bed proud,鈥� 鈥� said Riech.
鈥淭hat was my goal and I think I did that.鈥�
And more as Riech clocked a Paralympic record time of three minutes, 58.92 seconds.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 great. I鈥檓 pretty overwhelmed right now,鈥� he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 just really proud of my team and everyone who has helped me get here.鈥�
Riech trains on the PISE track at the Camosun College Interurban campus with the Western Hub middle-distance centre and Canadian Sport Institute-Pacific.
Before the Games, Riech said: 鈥淚 want to use my platform to better the Paralympic movement.鈥�
He did just that Saturday in Tokyo.
鈥渟a国际传媒 had a great go this last couple of weeks, so it鈥檚 awesome to be part of that,鈥� said Riech.
His was the 21st medal, and fifth gold, won by sa国际传媒 in the Tokyo Paralympics.
The T37 and T38 categories, the former for athletes with a greater degree of disability, were controversially combined for this Paralympics and created a race within a race. Liam Stanley, also of Victoria, finished fifth overall and was the first T37 athlete to cross in a Paralympics record 4:06.95. The T37 was a separate event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, in which Stanley won the silver medal.
鈥淚 executed the race the way I wanted to execute it. I just didn鈥檛 have the finish that the guys ahead of me had,鈥� said Stanley. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of the effort I put in, and if I wasn鈥檛 going to medal, I was going to walk away from here with a record. It鈥檚 a really big achievement. Next to my world record, it鈥檚 the biggest record I鈥檝e broken in my career and to take it off a guy like Michael McKillop [previous T37 Paralympic record holder from Ireland], probably the greatest ambulatory runner ever, is something of which I鈥檓 really proud.鈥�
McKillop won gold to Stanley鈥檚 silver medal when T37 was a separate event in the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Riech is coached by Heather Hennigar and Stanley by two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon and they train separately in Victoria.
Riech, the world record holder at 3:50.47, won gold and Stanley the silver medal in the T37-T38 1,500 metres at the 2019 Pan Am Paralympic Games in Lima, Peru. Riech then won gold at the 2019 world championships in Dubai while Stanley was fifth.
鈥淟iam [Stanley] inspires me,鈥� Riech has said.
鈥淭hat dude is one of the toughest guys I have run against.鈥�
Riech also set the world record in the 800 metres T38 at 1:57.78 in 2018.
Both Riech and Stanley have competed against able-bodied athletes, Riech during an NCAA track career at South Alabama.
Stanley suffered a stroke at birth and is partially paralyzed down the right side of his body. He was a star at Glenlyon Norfolk School in able-bodied soccer, basketball and track and led GNS to two Colonist Cup high school soccer championship game appearances and three sa国际传媒 single-A titles. He was two-time Canadian para-soccer player of the year. When sa国际传媒 failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympics in soccer, Stanley turned to track and won the silver medal at Rio 2016.
Riech is a dual citizen, who declared for sa国际传媒 and moved from Phoenix to Victoria in 2017, and comes from a deep familial sporting pool. Dad Todd Riech represented the U.S. in javelin at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and mom Ardin Tucker won the Canadian pole-vault title at the national trials for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and represented sa国际传媒 at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Cousin Georganne Moline represented the U.S. in the 400-metre hurdles at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.
Riech鈥檚 grandfather, Jim Harrison, played eight seasons in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, and also in the WHA. Grandmother Elizabeth Harrison was a national-level equestrian rider. Uncle Trevor Harrison is a former rugby player from the Cowichan Valley who has been personal therapist and trainer for several NBA stars. Step-dad Ben Tucker was selected in the eighth round of the 1995 MLB draft by San Francisco and progressed to Double-A in the Giants鈥� chain.
