A Paralympic medalist is facing skepticism about her disability. Christie Raleigh Crossley broke a world record in her first race at her first 2024 Paris Paralympic Games on Thursday (August 29). However, her accomplishment was overshadowed by what she described as “bullying.”
Christie won the first heat in women’s 50m freestyle – S9 with a time of 27.28 seconds. The race qualified her for the final later that day, where she won silver with 27.38 seconds, coming 0.28 seconds behind China’s Chen Yi, who broke the world record for the women’s 50m freestyle S10, NBC reported on Thursday.
A Paralympic medalist is facing skepticism about her disability
“I want to be a spotlight for people who aren’t what you’d typically think a Paralympian is, but because I’m outside the norm and the cookie cutter, it’s made me a target.
“When you’re dealing with a life-changing disability and then you think you’ve found a community and to find out there’s ableism within that.
“It would be very easy to just be quiet about but I feel like too many people have been quiet and that’s not gonna be me.”
Paris is the mother of three’s first Paralympic Games. However, she has been working toward the Olympic Games since she was a teen. Growing up in New Jersey, USA, the athlete spent much of her time in the water. Her father is a swimming champion, and Christie was a competitive swimmer most of her life, as per NBC.
She reportedly moved to South Florida, winning state titles in high school and eventually becoming an All-American in college. The Olympic Games in Beijing were in her sight, but a drunk driver derailed that dream for her in 2007.
Christie Raleigh Crossley broke a world record in her first race at her first 2024 Paris Paralympic Games on Thursday (August 29)
The Toms River, New Jersey, native eventually recovered from her injuries. She went on to get married and have children while continuing to train for the Olympics. Christie reportedly moved back to New Jersey and competed in Division III at Rowan University in Glassboro, winning an NCAA title.
In December 2018, Christie’s hopes for the Tokyo Olympic Games were shattered when her son accidentally hit her with an ice ball, revealing a brain tumor. Surgery to remove it led to paralysis on her left side, ending her chances of competing.
Nevertheless, the American swimmer continued to compete, setting a world record for the 2023 Citi Para Swimming World Series. She then represented the US at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships, where she won a gold medal in the 100-metre backstroke S9 event. And in June 2024, Christie was named in Team USA’s roster to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Christie’s neurological condition is classified as S9, meaning she competes against others whose swimming is similarly impacted by their disability.
However, her accomplishment was overshadowed by what she described as “bullying”
In para swimming, athletes are divided into three categories of disability: visual, physical, and intellectual, the official Paralympic website explains. Nevertheless, the distinction between categories can be unclear, and those who think Christie should compete in a different category have been expressing their disapproval on her Instagram page.
Spanish Paralympic swimmer Sarai Gascón Moreno commented, “S9? It’s a joke?” To which sixth-time Team USA Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, a double amputee, replied, “I stand with you!”
S9 is a disability swimming classification in the Paralympics that categorizes swimmers based on their level of disability. Swimmers in this class typically have a severe weakness in one leg and may have other disabilities such as cerebral palsy or amputations.
Christie won the first heat in the women’s 50m Freestyle – S9 with a time of 27.28 seconds
However, other athletes with neurological disabilities came to Christie’s defense, while some continued to disagree with her classification, as triathlete Kayla Woputz wrote: “I have the same condition as her and it’s dynamic as cr*p.”
She continued: “Anytime I go through classification my body shuts down for a few days. If I treat it right I can crush it. How absolutely disappointing to see this in this sport. We all know classification isn’t perfect.
“We deal with trying to justify ourselves all day every day to the rest of the world. To have it come from other people in your sport? Ugh.” I had a blood tumor in my brain that had been killing the brain as it took over that area,” Christie told The New York Times on August 22. Confirming the effects of her tumor, she added: “And then they removed it. And so now I’ve just got a nice hole.”
The race qualified Christie for the final later that day, where she won silver with 27.38 seconds
When Christie isn’t swimming, the athlete gets help from her dog, a lab-basset mix who she is training to provide mobility support, engaged in full-contact affection.
Some disabilities are easy to quantify — amputated limbs and short stature. But athletes with neurological impairments, like Christie, are harder to classify, The Times reported. Their disabilities require subjective judgments, and they can change over time — sometimes, from day to day.
This opens the athletes to charges that they are exaggerating their symptoms, as people outside para-sports are often accused of exaggerating impairments when they apply for disability benefits or seek extra time on school exams, as per The Times.
The better Christie swims, the more suspicion and accusations reportedly come her way. She explained: “I’ve been the brunt of a lot of that bullying, and it’s hard, because, like, today you see a great day — you’re seeing a very mobile, moving day.
“I’m also very good at masking things. Like, for instance, I haven’t been able to move my hand for the past 20 minutes.”
