CORYELL Lia

Classification
W1 (World Archery, 31 May 2021)

Type of Impairment
Impaired range of motion (Athlete, 02 Sep 2016)

Impairment Details
She had enlisted in the US Army at age 17, but was medically discharged due to balance and coordination issues two years later. At age 23, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis [MS]. "MS was a key part of my identity and I see that time after time. Don't let your diagnosis become your identity. That's why adaptive sports are so important for so many people, because it gives you an identity other than being broken." (olympics.com, 05 Mar 2021; Athlete, 02 Sep 2016; maddafella.com, 14 Jul 2020; teamusa.org, 25 Mar 2020)

General
RETIREMENT PLAN
She plans to retire from competition after the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo and resume her coaching career. "Realistically I think Tokyo will be my last opportunity to compete as an athlete, so I am moving forward with the mindset that Tokyo will be my time to shine and my golden opportunity to medal. I enjoy coaching and I am working with a talented archer and future Olympic hopeful named Cameron Peyton, so I may just be hanging out in his coaching box at the 2024 Games in Paris." (olympics.com, 05 Mar 2021; teamusa.org, 27 May 2021)

CLASSIFICATION
She says she became the first W1 classified Para archer to make the US national team in 2015. During the classification assessment, she was unable to do movements required to test her ability and considered quitting the sport. "I was in tears. The whole process made me feel more broken than I thought I was. I couldn't do what he wanted me to do. When I came out, I said, 'What is exactly W1?' The guys on the team said, 'Well you're the most impaired, you're the most broken'. I said, 'I don't want to do this anymore. I'm just getting used to being in a wheelchair. I don't want to do it if I'm the most broken one'. But my coach said to me, 'Lisa, this will give you a platform, you're a leader. People follow you. And there's going to be hundreds, if not thousands of people that are going to see you competing and you're going to change their lives. This is your opportunity to change the world'. I am the first W1 American woman to successfully make the USA national, world championship or Paralympic teams." (olympics.com, 05 Mar 2021; untoldathletes.com, 12 Feb 2021)

LOCKDOWN AND COVID-19
In 2020 she was diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the heart. In November that year she contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalised twice due to severe symptoms. "[Pericarditis] happens to autoimmune compromised people from stress. I'm a very social person. I'm very energised by people. And I was completely devastated that I couldn't be around [people]. I got it under control, cleared it up, did great through the whole summer. But I tell you, when I was in the hospital [with COVID-19] and I couldn't breathe on my own and I couldn't move on my own, I wasn't thinking correctly. I knew it would suck but I never thought it would nearly kill me. I went into heart failure and beginning stages of kidney failure. There were a few times I thought I was done. I've been fighting this disease [multiple sclerosis] for some 30 years and I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. [But then] I think of the notes, the pictures and kids and people that come up to me and they say things and I'm like, 'If you quit, you're negating everything you've done in your lifetime'. So I'm like, 'All right, keep fighting'. And I did." (olympics.com, 05 Mar 2021; untoldathletes.com, 12 Feb 2021)

FIRST GOLD MEDAL
She won her first international gold medal at the 2021 Pan American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico. She competed while battling autoimmune condition pericarditis, when her heart went into an irregular heartbeat. "I thought the poor medic there was going to have a meltdown. My heart rate sped up so my blood pressure dropped. And then I couldn't even talk. Then it flipped around, and my heart rate dropped and my blood pressure was like 200 over 160 and he was freaking out. But you just have to wait it out. For the first time, they raised that flag and played the national anthem for me. I was very, very tearful for several reasons, and probably the main one was that was proof I won that fight - the fact that I was there, and able to shoot arrows." (teamusa.org, 27 May 2021)

OTHER ROLES
She has served as chairperson on the USA Archery Para Athletes Advisory Council, and in 2020 was elected to represent both able-bodied and Para archers on the USA Archery board of directors and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee b