WA Paralympian goes for gold in Paris 2024; 'It's a feeling of freedom'

8 days ago

FOX 13 Seattle

WA Paralympian goes for gold in Paris 2024 Its a feeling of freedom

The bicycle is a perfect synthesis between the human body and machine — they need each other to go faster. Travis Gaertner and his bike go faster than almost everyone in the world.

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Travis Gaertner (File / FOX 13)

ENUMCLAW, Wash. - The bicycle is a perfect synthesis between the human body and machine — they need each other to go faster. Travis Gaertner and his bike go faster than almost everyone in the world.

"You just try to make the bike as an extension of your body. It feels like you’re going out there and your body is complete," said Gaertner. "It’s just a feeling of freedom."

Gaertner has his eyes on the prize: a medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

"Roughly speaking, for the time trial and the road race, which are two big events, I’m probably about sixth in the world, if you think about my success over the past couple years," said Gaertner. "So I’m within striking distance of a podium, and that’s what I’m focused on."

That goal is really not so far from reach.

"Naturally, a lot of us want to hit the easy button in life. And I’ve never really had that button," said Gaertner.

That is not just from balancing daily five-hour training routines, family time, and a corporate consulting career. Part of not having that ‘easy button,’ was always out of his hands.

"I’ve always liked to be mobile and fast, especially being born without my legs, I had to figure out from Day 1 how to adapt so I could enjoy life that way. So I could be out there moving around with the kids and enjoying life," said Gaertner.

Gaertner was born with no left leg and half of his right.

"When people see me in my wheelchair without legs, they ask ‘How can I help this person fix this situation?’ And I’ve had to sit back and say to them, ‘No, there’s nothing to fix here. This is the way the Lord designed me, and he did that with a purpose and for a reason, so there’s no healing I desire, and he’s given me a lot of gifts in life, and I’m just there trying to fulfill the best I can with those gifts.’"

He’s already turned those gifts into gold twice.

Gaertner won the Paralympic wheelchair basketball event for team Canada in 2000 and 2004 in Sydney, then Athens. But he’s called the U.S. home for decades, and switched gears to hand cycling, an individual sport, after becoming a father. And he’s chasing more gold in Paris.

"A third medal 24 years later would just feel like proving to the world you don’t have to listen to what people say you can and can’t do," said Gaertner.

When doubters speak, Gaertner chooses to be a terrible listener. When people see him training, on his 50–70 mile long rides, they often see him on lightly trafficked roads on the outskirts of Enumclaw, going 27 miles an hour, inches from the ground.

Travis Gaertner (File / FOX 13)

He has to tune that noise out, too.

"You get very mixed reactions. Some folks will thumbs up, phones out, ‘Let’s videotape this guy, cheer for this guy.’ Others will say, ‘That is a death trap what are you doing?’ Because you’re so low to the ground it’s hard to see safety precautions that I take, but when people first see that, they think that I’m crazy," said Gaertner.

If only they knew the man close to the ground had a chance to win three different Paralympic gold medals for team USA in Paris this week. With three races in four days, Gaertner refuses to hold anything back.

"I’m thinking I’m going to go out on the first race and be a little silly, I’m going to send it right off the bat, and I’m just going to tell myself halfway through ‘Just keep going.’ It’s going to be a bigger risk than I’ve ever taken before to close that gap from third, second or first. I’m just going to push as hard as I possibly can and see what happens," said Gaertner.

As the Paralympics grow in popularity, his purpose has evolved beyond bringing home medals.

"We’re on that stage and that’s really important, because a lot of times, you see someone who is disabled, and you don’t understand what they really can do. I can get up on a ladder and renovate my house and that’s what I do," said Gaertner. "It’s an education to the public about what we can and can’t do."

Gaertner organized an online fundraiser to support his 2024 Paralympic dreams, which has raised nearly $50,000.