TORRES Matthew

Classification
S8, SB8, SM8 (IPC, 07 Aug 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (ctpost.com, 21 Jun 2021; ctpost.com, 17 Feb 2015 )

Impairment Details
He was born without the lower portion of his right leg and only one toe on his left foot due to amniotic band syndrome [when the lining of a mother's uterus gets tangled around a developing foetus]. His index and middle fingers are also fused together and curved on both hands, and he wears a hearing aid to make up for moderate hearing loss. (ctpost.com, 21 Jun 2021; ctpost.com, 17 Feb 2015 )

General
OTHER SPORTS PRIOR TO SWIMMING
He had played other sports as a child - including baseball and football - before discovering swimming, but had struggled with them due to his impairment. "I'd tried out other sports before, briefly, just for fun. But with baseball, for example, I knew that running around the bases wouldn't be easy for me because running in general doesn't fit well for me. Soccer, same kind of thing, and then there's keeping control of the ball. But when it comes to swimming, you don't have that issue. The movements are natural for me. I knew I'd probably have a better chance of succeeding at swimming than at any other sport." (teamusa.org, 05 Dec 2019)

MOTIVATION
He competed in the US Paralympic Team Trials ahead of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but did not make the squad. However, after the trials he was assured by Queenie Nichols, director of US Paralympics Swimming, that he had a great chance to qualify for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. "So from then on, that was my focus. Even at the 2016 trials I was telling myself not to worry about it, not to pressure myself because 2016 was not going to be my year, but I knew I had 2020 coming up." (teamusa.org, 05 Dec 2019)