“I love challenges. I love laying it all out there when it matters the most,” Nate Graywolf Riech tells iRun, the 29-year-old Paralympic athlete who has rewritten the record book. Reich, known as the Wolf, holds the 800 metre and 1500 metre T38 world records and earned gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Oftentimes he competes against able-bodied athletes and Riech—racing Friday—is quick to describe himself as an “athlete,” full-stop—not a Paralympian.
CBC recently said he represents one of Canada’s best chances this summer at securing gold.
“I’m never going to put myself in a corner,” Riech says, and he was a semifinalist in the able-bodied national championships at the University of South Alabama. “A lot of able-bodied runners are better than me—I have no problem admitting that—but I have big goals, that’s what keeps me in the sport.”
Riech was 10-years-old and hit in the head by a golf ball when his life turned upside down and a brain injury affected the motion of the right side of his body. What would deter most mortal humans instead inflected Nate with a zealous gratitude that would imbue the rest of his days. It began in the hospital, where he grew to appreciate his new lease on life.
“I’m human, so for sure after I got hurt you wonder why things happen to you but I also discovered in the hospital my biggest passion, which is speaking up for people with disabilities who don’t have my platform,” says Riech, who credits his parents—both elite athletes—with encouraging his positive mindset and refusal to wallow. “I also couldn’t stop thinking about my positive experience in the hospital—I had amazing resources and came into the hospital not good and left super strong. I was fortunate and that changed things, changed everything.”
Riech began running and training and racking up wins and records, publicly speaking along the way about his journey. Addled post-injury with a severe stammer, Riech says that speaking and doing interviews represented a major hurdle to overcome, but with each talk, like with each race, he grew strong. “Right after my injury, I stuttered so bad that my biggest fear was public speaking—it’s like a rollercoaster and I was scared,” admits Riech, “but after I did it ten times, I discovered a passion and I love the challenge. If I can help one kid who has a traumatic brain injury who’s never heard anyone talk about it, it means the world to me. Helping other kids has become a huge motivation.”
Motivation for someone who has long dominated his sport isn’t always the easiest thing to find, and Nate says his goals for his race at Friday’s Paralympic games were at times elusive. He holds nearly every major record in his classification and often has to beat his own world records to keep finding new finish lines. Friday, however, he says he’s ready to roll.
“Motivation can be slippery and doubt creeps in, but I feel pride before every race and I’m excited to show people what I can do,” he says. “I know there’s a lot of people watching me, people with brain injuries who are confused and scared and so I’m excited to get back out and get racing. At some point, you have to feed the Wolf.”
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