Queens University of Charlotte issued the following announcement on Sept. 2.
After winning her first gold medal just a few days ago in the 110-meter backstroke- S9, Queens University of Charlotte's Hannah Aspden captured her second gold medal in her final event of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, the 4x100m medley 34-point relay.
"Queens Athletics is powered by five values (Excellence, Nurturing, Commitment, Progressive, and Purposeful), and Hannah captured all five throughout her journey," said Queens Director of Athletics Cherie Swarthout. "She lived a lifestyle of excellence in her pursuit of two golds in Tokyo. Her post-race interviews and mentoring shows the compassion and nurturing she delivers. Her commitment was never questioned. Her forward-thinking to find creative ways to train during a global pandemic was amazing. Finally, she was purposeful in her athletic achievements as well as her words in post-race interviews demonstrated her emotional intelligence. Get home safe, Hannah, we can't wait to celebrate you!"
Aspden competed in the race along with Mikaela Jenkins, Jessica Long, and Morgan Stickney. Aspden was first off the block recording a time of 1:10.04 in the backstroke portion of the race to give Team USA an early lead. Team USA finished the relay in 4:52.40 to take gold ahead of the Russian Paralympic Committee (4:55.55) and Australia (4:55.70).
Aspden won her individual gold medal on day six of the Games after recording a time of 1:09.22 in the 100m backstroke-S9. She advanced to the finals in the top spot after clocking a time of 1:09.83 in heat two of the prelims. Read more on Aspden's win here.
"It's absolutely incredible," Aspden told TeamUSA.org. "I came into the Games just being so thankful I had this opportunity to be able to compete. I didn't think I would be going home with a medal, never mind two gold medals. To be able to stand here with these amazing girls is incredible. I'm so proud of them."
On day five of the Games, Aspden competed with Team USA's 4x100m freestyle relay team which was ultimately disqualified along with Great Britain's team due to early takeoffs during the second exchange of the race. Team USA protested the disqualification after coming in first in the race, but the decision was upheld. Long and Stickney were also about of the 4x100m freestyle relay team with Aspden.
Aspden also competed in the 100m freestyle- S9 (1:05.35), 100m breaststroke- SB8 (1:32.40), and the 200m individual medley- SM9 (2:48.46) at the Games finishing each event in its preliminary round.
"I have run out of tissues! Hannah has become our beacon of hope," said Jeff Dugdale, Queens associate athletic director for strategic planning and leadership development/director of swimming operations. "Her passion and persistence are unwavering and steadfast. I watch with joy and feel so blessed that her experience was captured via the media so that the world can see what diversity looks like and even more important what inclusion looks like. Her post-race interviews showed empathy to all participants and the countries they come from knowing the struggles all endured. Mindset not classification is what level sets all humans. The Queens community cannot wait to welcome her home!"
A native of Raleigh, Aspden was born without a left leg and began her national team career at age 13. At the age of 16, she became the youngest U.S. swimmer to medal at either the Olympics or Paralympics in Rio in 2016 where she took home two bronze medals finishing third in the 100-meter backstroke- S9 and the 4x100m medley relay- 34 points. She joined the Queens swim team in 2018. The multimedia storytelling major will return to Queens following the Paralympic Games to complete her senior year of competition with the Royals.
Original source can be found here.
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