Tide, Tigers help USA basketball teams medal at 2024 Paralympics

The 2024 Paralympic Games wrapped up in Paris over the weekend but not before the USA wheelchair basketball teams competed in the gold medal games of their respective tournaments.

The men’s team took home gold while the women’s team is leaving France with silver medals. And both teams have a strong connection with Alabama.

Keep reading to learn more about both team’s tournaments + see what other Paralympians have ties to our state.

Auburn coach gets gold

While there were not any players with Alabama ties on the U.S. men’s wheelchair basketball team, they were led by Robb Taylor who is the head coach of the Auburn wheelchair basketball team.

This is Taylor’s fourth gold medal, winning his first three as an assistant coach on Team USA’s staff, but this is his first as head coach.

Team USA defeated Great Britain, 73-69. Birmingham native Brian Bell played a key role in the tournament, winning a third gold medal of his own.

Taylor has been with the Tigers since 2016, winning over 100 games in basketball but also playing a vital role in expanding the university’s adapted athletics program. Auburn also provides teams for tennis and power soccer.

Crimson Tide leads women’s team to silver

Alabama was represented by four current and one former Tide players along with a coach on Team USA’s women’s basketball team. Those representatives included:

• Abby Bauleke
• Bailey Moody
• Emily Oberst
• Ixhelt Gonzalez
• Lindsey Zurbrugg
• Coach Ryan Hynes

This comes just a few months after the Crimson Tide won its fifth consecutive national title.

Team USA made it all the way to the gold medal game but fell 63-49 to the Netherlands, still securing a silver medal in Paris.

Other ties to the Paralympics

While Team USA may have had the most representatives from Alabama on the basketball court, the Crimson Tide had several players across both the men’s and women’s tournament. The rest of the list included:

• Jannik Blair (Australia men)
• Bo Hedges (Canada men)
• Rosalie Lalonde, (Canada women)
• Cindy Ouelett, (Canada women)
• Arinn “Juice” Young, (Canada women)
• Catha Weiss, (Germany women)
• Joy Haizelden, (Great Britain women)
• Laurie Williams, (Great Britain women)
• Ignacio Ortega, (Spain men)

But it wasn’t just basketball that had some ties to the state.

The Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham hosts many athletes throughout the year and is the main training site for the wheelchair rugby team. Team members Clayton Brackett and Zion Redington live in Birmingham.

Other Paralympic athletes included:

• Thomas Venos, Alabama men’s wheelchair tennis
• Annika Zeyen, Alabama handbike

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