Sports

Ten Minnesotans invited to Rio for Paralympic Games

August 23, 2016 at 4:20AM

Chuck Aoki, a paralympic rugby player, helped Givenson Thimjon, 6, with shoulder pads during his shift at Dick's Sporting Goods in July in Richfield. Dick's Sporting Goods has a program in which it hires Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls and allows them to schedule hours around their training and competition schedules. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The largest U.S. Paralympic Team in history, announced Monday and set to compete next month in Rio, will include 10 Minnesotans.

The 267-member team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (Sept. 7-18) includes these athletes who either are from Minnesota or live in the state:

• Chuck Aoki (Minneapolis), wheelchair rugby.

• Sean Boyle (Minneapolis), soccer.

• Ben Goodrich (St. Paul), judo.

• Rose Hollermann (Elysian), wheelchair basketball.

• Ian Lynch (Brooklyn Park), wheelchair basketball.

• Aaron Pike (Park Rapids), track and field.

• Jon Rydberg (Woodbury), wheelchair tennis.

• Lexi Shifflett (Waseca), sitting volleyball.

• Natalie Sims (Edina), swimming.

• Mallory Weggemann (Eagan), swimming.

Aoki and Lynch won bronze medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, according to their biographies.

"To see our team increase in size by more than 17 percent since London is tremendous," said Rick Adams, USOC chief of Paralympic Sport said in a statement. "And it shows the growth of the Paralympic movement here in the U.S."

American athletes will compete in 20 sports contested through the 11-day competition. For the first time since 2004, Team USA qualified all eight of its team sports to compete.

At the London Paralympic Games, Team USA won 98 medals, finishing sixth overall.

California has the most representation with 29 athletes. Michigan and Washington are tied for the second-most represented states with 14 athletes.

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will be the largest edition of the Games yet, with an estimated 4,350 athletes. Athletes from more than 176 countries.

Etc.

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