{"id":43038,"date":"2016-08-18T15:55:15","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T20:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=43038"},"modified":"2016-08-18T15:55:15","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T20:55:15","slug":"paralympian-josh-george-making-his-mark-in-wheelchair-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/paralympian-josh-george-making-his-mark-in-wheelchair-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralympian Josh George Making His Mark in Wheelchair Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EmmaKate Austin<\/strong>
\n[vimeo 179340363\u00a0w=474]<\/p>\n

At just four years old, Josh George survived a 12-story fall from a window. He lost the use of his lower body, but hasn’t let that hold him back from succeeding as an athlete.<\/div>\n

Four-time Paralympian Josh George has a long list of racing accomplishments, but his impact on the sport reaches far beyond the finish line.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the midst of setting world records and winning medals in wheelchair racing, he got involved with IntelliWheels<\/a>, a wheelchair tech startup located in Champaign, Illinois that was founded by\u00a0some of his friends.<\/p>\n

George was initially brought on just to give some feedback, but has gradually taken on a larger role as project manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really found a good niche for developing lifestyle products for people with disabilities,\u201d he said. \u201cFor too long anything developed for person with a disability was sort of classified as a medical product, a medical tool. And that\u2019s not the type of stuff that people want.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the last two years the U.S. wheelchair racing team has partnered with engineers at BMW to develop a new racing chair. When the sport of wheelchair racing was in its earliest stages, people were building chairs themselves, George said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to really re-think what a racing chair can do from the top down,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a huge step forwards in the evolution of the equipment that we\u2019re using.\u201d<\/p>\n

George is the star of a new BMW ad that aired during the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics. The ad, narrated by actor Chris Pine, shows George racing down a rural road in Illinois as the sun sets in the background.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/6IlgxHJ8b3Q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible because it never acknowledged the disability,\u201d he said. \u201cIt never acknowledged difference between me and another athlete. It invited everyone to rethink what an athlete is.\u201d<\/p>\n

George hopes that message will resonate with the general public, and he appreciates the fact that BMW has made such a powerful point.<\/p>\n

In addition to his work on the technology side, he wants to inspire and encourage others to live up to their full potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we all have a skill set or a talent or something we\u2019re innately good at or trained to be good at. I\u2019m interested in being able to maximize whatever that talent is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As George prepares to maximize his potential at the Paralympic Games in Rio, he is getting out into the community to spread his message.<\/p>\n

His biggest personal goal, however, is speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to say I went as fast as it was possible for me to go,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that I didn\u2019t leave anything on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: George works to push himself, his fellow athletes and his sport forward. (Photo courtesy Josh George)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By EmmaKate Austin [vimeo 179340363\u00a0w=474] At just four years old, Josh George survived a 12-story fall from a window. He lost the use of his lower body, but hasn’t let that hold him back from succeeding as an athlete. Four-time Paralympian Josh George has a long list of racing accomplishments, but his impact on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":43049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,2582],"tags":[2938,2937,2935,2936,2136,1764],"class_list":["post-43038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-spring-2016","tag-bmw","tag-intelliwheels","tag-josh-george","tag-paralympic-games","tag-rio","tag-rio-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nParalympian Josh George Making His Mark in Wheelchair Racing - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/paralympian-josh-george-making-his-mark-in-wheelchair-racing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paralympian Josh George Making His Mark in Wheelchair Racing - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By EmmaKate Austin [vimeo 179340363\u00a0w=474] At just four years old, Josh George survived a 12-story fall from a window. 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