As Team USA’s Rising Star, Sarah Adam Makes Paralympics History in Wheelchair Rugby

The Naperville native dominated in her debut at the Summer Games, showing why she’s ready to take the co-ed sport by storm.

Sarah Adam scored six tries for Team USA on Thursday. / Marco Mantovani/Getty Images

It didn’t take long for Team USA to crown its first star of the Paris Paralympic Games. Just one day after the opening ceremony, Sarah Adam made history as the first American woman to score at the Paralympics in wheelchair rugby, one of the few sports that is co-ed.

Not only did Adam score, she dominated. The Naperville, Ill., native scored six tries in Team USA’s 51–48 win over Canada to open Group A play.

Adam’s journey in wheelchair rugby began before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016. As a doctoral student in occupational therapy at Washington University in St. Louis, Adam volunteered for a local wheelchair rugby team. Following her diagnosis, she ended up playing for that very team and was classed into the sport in 2019.

After just two years playing competitively, she was already on Team USA’s radar as a rising star, earning an invite to try out for the national team. In a sport that is known colloquially as “murderball,” Adam said it's the physical, full-contact aspect that continues to drive her.

“I actually tend to focus more on the strategy and tactics and trying to think three steps ahead,” Adam told Kansas City NPR-affiliate KCUR. “I do love the fact that it's full contact, and they're going in and reaching out with arms and trying to grab the ball on your lap and punch you in the face and whatnot. It kind of breaks down that stereotype of what people typically think of when you hear about a disabled athlete.”

With Team USA, Adam would go on to claim a silver medal in the 2022 world championships before winning gold in the 2023 Parapan American Games as a precursor to the Paris Paralympics.

Now, after her outstanding start at the Paris Games, the occupational therapy professor is looking to becoming just the fourth woman ever to medal in wheelchair rugby at the Paralympics.