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Paralympian Daniel Romanchuk strives to give back with new initiative as he goes for gold at 2024 Paris Games
Wednesday is the first day of the Paralympic Games in Paris. More than 4,000 athletes from across the world will compete in 22 different sports.
The Games include everything from para swimming and equestrian events to wheelchair racing.
Daniel Romanchuk, a Paralympian in short- and long-distance cycling, was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the spine. He’s been in a wheelchair since he was 5 years old, a decision he made after trying to walk with braces.
“I basically told my parents I’m done with walking. I want to use a wheelchair. It allowed me to get where I wanted to go quickly and easily. So, you know, really the wheelchair was freedom for me,” he said in an interview with “CBS Mornings” at his training facility in Champaign, Illinois, ahead of the Games.
Journey to Paralympics
Romanchuk switched to a wheelchair with the help of Bennett Blazers, an adaptive sports program in Baltimore, where he grew up. The program helps kids set a goal and reach it, emphasizing your journey may be different from others and that’s OK.
For him, that perspective was a guidepost his entire life. It led him to the Rio Paralympics in 2016 and to his first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. He also won a bronze medal in Tokyo.
“One thing I learned at Bennett is just push all the way through the line. The race is not over until you’re across the line,” he said.
The thrill of racing and competing is something the 26-year-old has been chasing his whole life.
He trains six days a week starting with a 5-mile warmup before hill drills where he and his chair hit speeds around 40 mph.
“I’ve always enjoyed just pushing myself and seeing how far can I go? How fast can I go?” Romanchuk said.
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Family impact
Romanchuck and his two siblings were homeschooled growing up, and he remembers spending a lot of time playing outside in their backyard.
“I’m the youngest of three … and so the other two were playing sports. So really, there was no question I would too,” he said.
Today, Romanchuck and his mom, Kim, are a team. They’ve traveled around the world together, competing and winning dozens of marathons and races in the last 10 years.
Beyond the Paralympics
While Romanchuck has his eyes set on another gold at this year’s Paralympics in Paris, he has another goal close to his heart.
“We want to give as many other people the same opportunities that I’ve had,” he said.
A few weeks before heading off to Paris to compete, Romanchuck went home to help at a basketball camp with the Bennett Blazers.
He also started “Wheels for Change,” a nonprofit dedicated to changing the perception of disabilities through wheelchair racing.
“Just growing up in that ‘I can’ atmosphere, and really never, never having the excuse of, ‘Oh, my legs don’t work, so I can’t do that,'” he said. “I never, as a kid, internalized that thought because I never really saw it. All I saw were all of the capabilities that were out there.”
A Georgia county’s emergency call center was overwhelmed by calls on Sept. 4 about a school shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people and wounded nine others, records released Friday by Barrow County show.
Local news organizations report many of the 911 phone calls were not released under public record requests because state law exempts from release calls recording the voice of someone younger than 18 years old. That exemption would cover calls from most of the 1,900 students at the school in Winder, northeast of Atlanta.
Calls spiked around 10:20 a.m., when authorities have said that 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray began shooting. Many calls were answered with an automated message saying there was a “high call volume,” WAGA-TV reported.
One man called 911 after receiving text messages from a girlfriend. He was put on hold for just over 10 minutes because of an influx of calls at the time of the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“She hears people yelling outside, so I don’t know if that’s officers in the building or that’s — I don’t know,” he said, adding that she was eventually evacuated out of the school.
Other adults also called 911 after their children contacted them.
“My daughter calling me crying. Somebody go ‘boom, boom, boom, boom,'” one mother said. The 911 operator responded: “Ma’am we have officers out there, OK?”
Parents of students at an elementary school and middle school neighboring Apalachee also flooded 911 seeking information.
“Sir, my daughter goes to school next door to Apalachee. Is there a school shooter?” one caller asked.
“We do have an active situation (at) Apalachee High School right now,” the operator responded. “We have a lot of calls coming in.”
More than 500 radio messages between emergency personnel were also released Friday.
“Active shooter!” an officer yells in one audio clip while speaking with a dispatcher, CNN reported. Another officer responds, “Correct. We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.”
The shooting killed teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, with seven of those hit by gunfire.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported Thursday that the suspect rode the school bus on the day of the shooting with the assault-style rifle concealed in his backpack.
He then asked a teacher for permission to go to the front office to speak with someone, and when he received it, he was allowed to take his backpack with him, GBI said. He then went to a restroom, where he hid, and then eventually took out the weapon and started shooting, investigators said. A knife was also found on him when he was arrested.
According to investigators, the suspect enrolled at Apalachee High on Aug. 14, and between Aug. 14 and the day of the shooting, he was absent for nine days of school.
The family told CBS News that the suspect’s maternal grandmother had visited the school the day before the massacre to discuss the suspect’s alleged behavioral issues.
The suspect has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder, and District Attorney Brad Smith has said more charges are likely to be filed against him in connection with the wounded. Authorities have also charged his father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, alleging that he gave his son access to the gun when he knew or should have known that the teen was a danger to himself and others.
The 13,000 students at Barrow County’s other schools returned to class Tuesday. The 1,900 students who attend Apalachee are supposed to start returning the week of Sept. 23, officials said Friday.
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