A lifelong love of athletics, a fierce competitive streak, and time management skills honed in college have led former Cedarville student-athlete Grace Norman to become a world-class triathlete.
Norman was born into an athletic family, for starters. Her mother ran track at Purdue, and her father is a masters swimmer and Ironman triathlete. "So I grew up swimming and running," Norman said.
Norman was also born with a disorder in her left leg that left her without a foot or ankle. Still, she followed her family's path and, through prosthetics and sheer competitiveness, excelled in sports. She was a three-sport star at Xenia Christian High School in Ohio, where she started to compete in triathlon in 2014 after she found out the event was being added to the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
"I thought that would be a really cool thing. My dad was starting to get into it, and I was, like, 'I can do that. I grew up a runner. I swim. I'm sure I can figure out that bike.' That was the beginning of it, and since then it's become a passion for me," said Norman, who won gold at the 2016 Paralympics. "It's become my lifestyle where I strive to be the best at all three, which is tiring but that's what I've chosen, and I love it and I'm so excited I get to represent my country at the highest level."
Norman, like many athletes, had this lifestyle taken away from her early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Competitions were put on hold indefinitely. The Olympics and Paralympics were postponed. Fears crept in that a cancellation might occur this year.
Now, with the Paralympics beginning Tuesday and her paratriathlon event set for Sunday, Aug. 29, Norman is eager to measure herself once again against the best in the world.
"Competing has always been a huge joy for me. I'm a very competitive person, so to not have races and have anything that I can basically see where I'm at and race against people I've been racing against for the past five to seven years was very difficult," she said. "Training can be a little mundane if you're not able to look toward an event, so coming back to racing I'm really excited to show how much I've been able to improve over the past year without racing."
Despite the pandemic's impact, Norman feels more prepared than ever as she awaits this Paralympic opportunity in Tokyo. In large part, she said her increased confidence stems from her collegiate experience. A cross country and track and field runner at Cedarville, Norman graduated in 2020 with a degree in nursing. Even more, she trained and competed in triathlons during the spare time she had in college. The culmination of this experience, she said, eased her transition to a professional career.
"Competing in the NCAA throughout college was extremely helpful in helping me time manage, as far as being able to schedule out everything with workouts and different appointments that I have," she said. "Just being able to juggle all of that, as well as being a nursing student, was a lot to deal with during that time. It definitely helped me time manage and become a stronger athlete and more experienced in the running portion of the triathlon, as far as being able to compete at the highest level for the Paralympics.
"Nursing is something I'm really passionate about, and I'm very excited to use in the future. I fell in love with it and am very, very thankful for Cedarville University for what they did to prepare me as a student-athlete in both nursing and cross country and track to be able to compete for the Paralympics in triathlon at that high level, but it also set me up for a really fulfilling post-Paralympic career."
Norman bites her gold medal from the 2016 Paralympics, when triathlon was introduced to the Games. Norman, a six-time World Paratriathlon Championships medalist, will compete Sunday, Aug. 29, in the 2020 Paralympic Games. (Photo by Buda Mendes / Getty Images)
