McFadden helps launch virtual event

Clarksville native stays busy with Paralympics pushed back to ’21

Q&A

Under normal circumstances, Tatyana McFadden would be at training camp in Japan preparing for the Paralympics. The Clarksville native and winner of 16 Paralympic medals in the T54 category for wheelchair athletes would be getting set to defend the four gold medals she won at the last summer games in Rio in 2016.

Instead, because of the coronavirus pandemic pushing back the Tokyo Games to August 2021, McFadden, 31, has been spending this month in Howard County with her family. There have been no competitions for her since last November, when she competed in the New York Marathon, and there are no races scheduled until at least October.

Despite the lack of formal races fool, McFadden has been plenty busy. She’s continued her rigorous training regimen the past few months from her home in Florida, served as a producer and featured athlete in the Netflix original documentary “Rising Phoenix” that is set to premier Wednesday, and is partnering with Aetna to launch a virtual event called the Attain Games Challenge that will run from Sunday to Saturday.

McFadden, who also has a record-setting 23 victories in the world major marathon series since 2009, is one of seven world-class and champion athletes serving as presenting partners for the Attain Games. The event, available through the Attain by Aetna app, will spotlight a series of healthy activities to help individuals “experience new and challenging ways to achieve their health goals while focusing on at-home wellness.”

McFadden recently sat down to talk about why this challenge is so important to her, her own training adjustments she has had to make during the pandemic and her goals for the future.

What was it about the Attain Games idea that made you decide that you wanted to become involved?

I think as disappointed as I was not to be able to compete this year, it’s still important to stay healthy and, in some ways, that’s the case more than ever. Part of that is finding really creative ways to do it in the comfort of our homes. And the Attain Games is set up in a way that allows us to do that. It’s a fun and innovative way to bring people together and have their own inner athletes come out. The Attain Games is basically seven days worth of health and wellness challenges created led by elite athletes like myself. And it’s a chance for the whole community to train together, whether you are an athlete of not.

Being creative with fitness seems to be a big part of this challenge. How much can you relate to that?

I think being a para-athlete, my life has always been about adaptability and finding ways to be really creative. So like during this time, I was able to quickly learn and find ways to adapt, which I’ve tried to share as part of my involvement in the Attain Games. I use laundry detergent, which is pretty heavy if it’s full, and you can do lots of shoulder exercises and arm exercises that will create shoulder stability and will help a smaller group of muscles that are pretty important to wheelchair racing. But it’s also important to daily life in general.

With most competition on hold, how important do you feel these kind of outside motivators are to keeping people active?

This is like a time of test for all of us. For me, and I’m sure it’s the same for others, I’ve had to isolate alone and being by myself in Florida it can be tough to stay on track. That’s why I think it’s so amazing to have an app like this where you can really engage, learn fitness exercises and learn how to goal orient. It gives people the opportunity to track it and develop a routine. And almost hold themselves accountable by following through throughout the challenge.

This is just one of many things you have chosen to get involved with outside of simply competing as a world-class athlete. Why are things like this so important to you?

Sports have really kind of been a rebirth in my life, especially growing up and living life in an orphanage early on and not having a wheelchair available. Then coming to the [United States], sports became an outlet just to be healthy and normal … physical exercise wasn’t for me to become an Olympic athlete, it did however allow me to dream of becoming something like that. So health and wellness has been such an important thing in my life that any way that I can now share my experiences and show exercises and just get others involved is very important to me.

I couldn’t help but notice you said nine more years, does that have anything to do with the Paralympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028?

Yes it does. I have to do a home Games. I have to make it there. I have to keep myself intact with my shoulders, my arms and no injuries … but that would be a dream for me to compete at a home Games. And I won’t be 40 yet, so I think I can do it.