Name: Rachael Morrison

Sport: Track and Field

Discipline(s): Track and Field

Classification: F51

Height: 5-6

Weight: 160

DOB: 6/2/1987

Birthplace: Royal Oak, Mich.

Hometown: Farmington Hills, Mich.

High School: Harrison High School (Farmington Hills, Mich.) ‘08

College: Oakland University (Rochester Hills, Mich.) ’12, Psychology

Team/Club: ParaSport Spokane

Paralympic Experience

• One-time Paralympian (2016); One-time medalist (1 gold)
• Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, gold (discus), 5th (club)

World Championship Experience

• Most recent: 2017 – silver (discus), bronze (club throw)
• Years of Participation: 2015, 2017
• Medals: 4 (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
• Gold – 2015 (discus)
• Silver – 2017 (discus); 2015 (club)
• Bronze – 2017 (club throw)

Personal: Morrison grew up playing soccer, softball, track, swimming, gymnastics, figuring skating and marching band. She was an able-bodied athlete at Harrison High School but was paralyzed in 2012 by a rare condition that damages the spinal cord called transverse myelitis. Morrison played recreational wheelchair basketball and rugby before attending her first adaptive track and field meet in 2014. Since her first year with U.S. Paralympics Track & Field in 2015, Morrison has been a rising talent in the program, setting world records in the F51 club less than a month after her debut and qualifying for her first U.S. Paralympic Team....Daughter of William and Karen Morrison…Played the cello at a high level for 13 years, traveling internationally for several performances…Enjoys classical music, including Haydn's Concerto in C and pieces by Czech composter Dvorak…Picked up a club and discus for the first time at the Thunder in The Valley Games (Saginaw, Michigan) in May 2014…Considers U.S. soccer legend Mia Hamm, theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and her grandmother her heroes.