|
Sail-World.com : Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone Loses Battle with ALS
Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone Loses Battle with ALS
|
Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.), 42, passed away Friday, after a long battle with ALS, also commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Scandone won a coveted gold medal with teammate Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) in the SKUD-18 class at the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China, this past summer.
'The sport of sailing has lost a great competitor and the most inspirational person most of us will ever know,' said Dean Brenner, Chairman of US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Program. 'Words can’t describe the pride so many people felt watching Nick take the last few steps towards his dream in China last summer. He was a gold medalist on and off the water, and we’ll miss him dearly.'
Scandone beat the odds of his disease by not only being strong enough to compete at the 2008 Paralympic Games, but by winning the gold medal a day early, with two races left to go. 'It’s been such a long road to get [to the 2008 Games],' said Scandone after he won. 'It’s emotionally overwhelming for me to finally realize my goal.' There were countless days filled with doubt, exhaustion and adversity, but he and McKinnon-Tucker met each challenge with incredible strength and determination. Scandone was a US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member, named US SAILING’s 2008 Sportsman of the Year, nominated for US SAILING’s 2008 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtsman of the Year award and winner of US SAILING’s 2005 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award.
For more information and background on Nick Scandone, please read his bio on the US SAILING web site: http://olympics.ussailing.org/The_Team/Nick_Scandone.htm
by Marni Lane - US Sailing
Click on the FB Like link to post this story to your FB wall
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=52468
10:04 PM Sat 3 Jan 2009 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
Click for further information on
US Sailing
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
|
|
Our Advertisers are committed to our sport, please support them!
This site and its contents are © Copyright TetraMedia Pty. Ltd and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact Sail-World.com as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Only if the photographer named on the image is Sail-world.com, Powerboat-world.com or Marinebusiness-world.com
Contact us
.
or complete our
feedback form
Contact us
.
View our Privacy Policy.
[ Go Home]
[ Banner Advertising Specification]
[Bot Archive ]
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our Sail-World news feed on their website.
Look_here_to_see_examples
|
| | |
