When Femita Ayangbek competed in the 100 meters at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Trials in July, she had the number 13.01 in mind, a time she knew would guarantee her a spot on the Paralympic team to Paris.
She was running faster than she had before. In fact, three years ago She set an American record of 12.84 seconds. of T64 ClassificationBut she competed at this year’s trials just six months after giving birth to her daughter, Naila.
The gun went off, Ayangbek sprinted and crossed the finish line in first place. She waited for the announcer to announce the time, and when she heard it was exactly 13.01 seconds, she broke down in tears of joy and relief.
“A lot of people thought I couldn’t do it,” Ayanbek, 32, told SELF, breaking down in tears during the post-race television broadcast. Interview“But I was able to do it, and I was able to show her,” she said, especially when her fiancé, Dexter Bradley, brought Nyla over to hold her.
Ayangbek will be competing in her third Olympic Games, hoping to win her first Paralympic medal. Here’s what you need to know about the superstar’s mother before she competes in the 100m track event in Paris. Tune in to see her in the first round on September 5 and the final on September 6.
1. She didn’t start running until she was 23 years old.
Ayangbek grew up in Randolph, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, and never considered herself a particularly athletic child. At age 11, she lost her right leg in a car accident. She was thrown from a speeding car and doctors had to amputate it to save her life. As a freshman in high school, she tried to follow in her sister’s footsteps and play basketball, but she developed blisters on her prosthetic leg and quit after a few months. “I played for about three months, and then I quit,” she says.
It wasn’t until 2015 that a prosthetist recommended she attend a running clinic. Challenged Athletes FoundationA non-profit organization specializing in sports for people with disabilities, where she received Ossur brand running blades and Jerome Singletona sprinter and three-time Paralympic athlete. He saw something in her and introduced her to his coach, Sherman Hart, and the two agreed to start training together.
After competing against able-bodied athletes in several competitions, Ayanbek qualified for the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Team Trials in 2016. 13.44 seconds He won the 100 meters and came second in the 200 meters. 28.41 He competed in the Rio Paralympics and placed 12th.Number He placed 1st in the 100m and 6th in the 200m.
She then returned to her alma mater, American International College, in Springfield, Massachusetts, for her class reunion. “The track coach asked me why I didn’t run for us when I was here,” Ayanbek says. “I said, ‘I didn’t know you could run!’ It was definitely a surprise to everybody, myself included.”
2. She won a national championship while pregnant.
Since then, Ayangbek has won seven more national championships. titleThough she didn’t know it at the time, Naila was with her until the final moment, and when she counted later, Ayangbek realized she was about three weeks pregnant when she won the T64 100 meters at the 2023 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Championships in May.
