Bobby & Jens: Paralympian Allison Jones
She’s a two-sport, eight-time Paralmypian with eight medals to show for her career. But there might just be more as she tries to make another Olympic team.
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She went to eight consecutive Paralympics from 2002 to 2016 with eight medals — two gold, three silver, and three bronze — to show for it before retiring. That is until she got bored and fell back in love with cycling. Now Allison Jones is trying to make the 2024 games.
Jones joins Bobby & Jens this week to catch us up on her journey.
Also read: Bobby & Jens: Levi Leipheimer’s journey from teenager in Montana to the Tour de France
In her Olympic career, she bounced back and forth between skis and bikes every six months, which meant transforming her body type constantly to be the best at both. Learn why being a two-sport athlete in the Paralympics has become harder as the competition has ramped up.
In between all that training, she managed to pick up an engineering degree and now works on suspension at SRAM in Colorado Springs, where the elevation also is aiding her quest to make another Olympic team. In fact, she’s never too far away from competing, having called in to the show the night before an event in Italy.
Jones takes us through how she got inspired to start skiing as a kid and how her mom got her into the sport despite the birth defect that left her with one functioning leg. Then, she moves on to the ups and downs of her career in skiing and cycling, her favorite moments in the Olympics, and why London hosted the best Paralympics in her career.
Later, she talks about carrying the flag at the opening ceremonies in Rio and some of the best moments that have come with her career.
Listen to the episode for the full discussion!