Following very exciting news that came on Monday night Islandstats.com can confirm that Jessica Lewis has qualified for the 2016 Paralympic Games.
The confirmation came when the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) posted the standards for RIO 2016 Paralympics!
The RIO 2016 Paralympic Standard:
100 meter – A 19.05 – B 20.00 – Jessica’s Time 16.98
400 meter – A 1.01.00 – B 1.10.00 – Jessica’s Time 1.01.13
800 meter – A 2.00.00 – B 2.20.00 – Jessica’s Time 2.06.69
As you can see from the above, Lewis has qualified in all 3 of her events for the 2016 RIO Paralympics! ‘A’ Standard in the 100 and ‘B’ Standards in the 400 and 800. Rio does not offer 200 meter races for T53’s.
Lewis and her team now have to wait for the official word from the IPC that Bermuda will be given a place at the games. This will not come until next spring!
Countries are awarded the places for the Paralympics and not specific athletes. It is then the Countries decision who they send to compete. The qualification period does not end until July, 2016 so Lewis still has time to try for the ‘A’ Standards in all events.
This is so exciting that 65 pound Lewis from little Bermuda is on her way to competing on the world stage again.
The year before London 2012 Paralympics Coach Ken was in England on business and he brought back rubber bracelets that said ‘London 2012’.
These bracelets became the inspiration for Lewis to qualify for London. Unfortunately, Rio is not one of Ken’s territories so he has come up with the inspiration for Rio 2016 Paralympics! This is their silent inspiration! Not sure there is a resemblance, but it works!
Jessica said, “It is so exciting to see all my hard work paying off. I thank everyone for all their support and encouragement. I’m so excited that I made the qualifying standards for Rio and it brings back a lot of memories when I qualified for London, only this time I know how amazing the experience can be. Here’s hoping that I will be able to call myself a 2 time Paralympian! Thank you Tokio Millennium Re for sponsoring me over the last 2 years. Your generosity is truly helping me on this amazing journey. Thanks to my personal trainers Scott and Chico for building up by biceps to be bigger than my Dads!! A lot gets Coach Ken excited but nothing like hearing that his athlete has qualified for a Paralympic games. Huge thanks to you Coach Ken for everything you do for me on and off the track. I definitely would not be where I am now without you. We did it!!
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