Team USA Notes & Storylines
- The final 2019 U.S. Parapan American Team includes 257 athletes, including six guides and pilots (159 men and 98 women).
- Team USA will be competing in 16 sports.
- The 2019 roster features 114 Paralympians – including 67 Paralympic medalists and 36 Paralympic champions.
- A total of 41 states are represented (by hometown) on the U.S. roster; California leads with 32 athletes.
- Team USA includes 31 athletes who speak Spanish.
- The youngest and oldest members on the team are 14-year-old swimmer Keegan Knott (July 11, 2005; Lake Villa, Illinois) and 72-year-old table tennis athlete Terese Terranova (May 21, 1947; Fort Lauderdale, Florida).
- One married couple will compete for Team USA in Lima – track and field athletes Kym Crosby and Erik Hightower will compete internationally for the first time since getting married in September 2018.
- Soccer player Josh Brunais (Stafford, Virginia) served as the U.S. flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016.
- Twenty-three athletes have military ties – including 16 with Army, three with Air Force and two with the Marine Corps and two with the Navy. The men’s sitting volleyball team boasts the most veterans with six athletes on the team having previously served in the armed forces.
- More than 80 current or former collegiate athletes will compete for Team USA in Lima, including 12 current varsity NCAA student-athletes with a disability.