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Paralympian has gold in mind4Belleville native earned bronze medal this year and looks to 2000 gamesBy DAVID CLOUSTONThe Salina JournalJana Stump is hard-pressed to name the most exciting moment of her experience at the recent Paralympic Games in Atlanta.Winning a bronze medal as a member of the U.S. Women's Paralympic basketball team is number bne, followed closely by meeting and posing for pictures with actor Christopher Reeve. Her and her teammates’ picture with Reeve appeared in the Aug. 26 edition of Time Magazine.. Stump, 21, a Belleville native, was one of more than 3,500 athletes from120 nations with physical disabilities who competed at the Atlanta games Aug. 15-25. She was the youngest member of the team, playing guard on defense and the wing on offense.Stump was paralyzed in a 1990 car accident. She is a senior this fall majoring in broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois.The U.S. women’s team took the bronze by defeating Australia, 41-30. The U.S. had lost to the Australian women by four points in an earlier game in pool play. The U.S. team also defeated Brazil and Germany, but lost to the Netherlands.The U.S. Men’s Paralympic basketball team also took the bronze medal at the games.In the final women’s game there were 10,000 spectators, Stump said. She said Atlantans, still on a high from the summer Olympic games,welcomed the Paralympians with strong support. Much of the infrastructure built for the summer Olympics remained, she said.“During the opening ceremonies, it was so great,” Stump said. “There were thousands and thousands of people yelling USA, USA, USA — you don’t know the kind of adrenaline that goes through your body at that point.Stump was the only U.S. player fwho had not played international teams. But having played a lot of basketball in school growing up before her accident, Stump found herself competitive with the rest of the field. She’s also a starter for the Mini women’s wheelchair team.“I have good shooting, ball-handling skills, and I’m able to see the floor,” she said.She also had a small cheeringsection of her own at the games' that included her parents, other relatives and friends.Her brush with Reeve came during the opening ceremonies. As Stump and two of her teammates were dancing to a performance by Aretha Franklin, a games official approached them and asked if they would be part of a U.S. athletes team picture with Reeve. Stump is on the left side, at Reeve’s arm, in the photo that ran in Time.“I said, hey Superman, my name’s Jana. And he said, ‘Hi, Jana.’ ” Stump said.Stump’s goal is to make it to the next Paralympic games in Sydney, Australia, in 2000.“After this experience I think it’s in my blood. I want to win the gold. I want to go to Australia and get that gold medal.”
Newspaper Details
Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Thu, Aug 29, 1996
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Jan 2020
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