While the Olympics mainly banned just the Russian track and field team and a few other sports from the games because of a doping scandal, that wasn’t the case for the Paralympics. The International Paralympic Committee http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/entire-russian-team-banned-paralympics-rio-over-doping-n624846">banned the entire Russian team from the 2016 games. No one on the International Olympic Committee was willing to go as far as a full ban.
On Tuesday, Aug. 23, the http://uk.reuters.com/article/paralympics-rio-russia-cas-idUKZ8N1B4000">Court for Arbitration for Sports upheld the ban. That meant that the 267 qualification spots the Russian team held were returned to the IPC, which had the authority to redistribute the spots to any athlete in any sport.
The ban and redistribution of spots opened the door for http://www.usfencing.org/news_article/show/690430?referrer_id=708436">Joseph “Joey” Brinson of Florence, Miss. to compete in the 2016 Rio Paralympics in wheelchair fencing. Brinson was a member of the 2012 Paralympic team.
He finished http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/693565-joseph-brinson">14th at the 2014 Paralympics in Category B saber. Brinson has competed in saber. foil and epee for the U.S. team, and has medaled in all three events during his career.
He is also a four-time Wheelchair World Championship member. Brinson was selected to compete in Category B men’s individual saber competition at the 2016 Rio games.
Brinson was trying to earn his spot on the U.S. Paralympic team before he received his spot due to the redistribution of Russian spots. His silver medal in the Pan American Wheelchair championships in May kept him just short of the team.
Instead of silver, Brinson needed gold to earn a spot on the team and qualify for Rio. In April he earned gold at the Wheelchair National Championships.
Brinson is ranked No. 1 in the nation in men’s saber and ranked 17th in the world in Category B men’s saber. Being able to represent his country again in the Paralympic games came as a late 40th birthday present for the athlete, who celebrated his birthday on Aug. 22.
Joining Brinson in Rio will be 17-year-old Lauryn DeLuca of Parma, Ohio, as the two U.S. Paralympic fencers. DeLuca qualified for the games by winning gold in Category A women’s epee at the Pan American Wheelchair championships.
The Paralympics are set to begin on Sept. 7 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Wheelchair fencing will be held on Sept. 12-16.
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