Get to Know the Paralympian with Most Medals

Disability can’t stop a person from achieving success! Paralympics is not like other games, the players participating in Paralympics should also fight with their disabilities outside the games. Trischa Zorn, a swimmer, is the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games. She has won 55 medals, including 41 gold medals, 9 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Trisha Zorn is visually impaired, she was born with a genetic eye condition that left her blind. Despite her disability, she participated in the Paralympic Games from 1980 to 2004 in the S12, SB12 (visual field of less than 5-degree radius), and SM12 disability categories. She was also a flag-bearer of the United States at the 2004 Athens Games.

Personal life

Trischa Zorn was born on June 1, 1964, with aniridia, a rare genetic disorder caused by a dysfunction in the PAX6 gene. PAX6, the gene responsible for eye development, and this condition cause the eye to stop developing prematurely. This disorder can be treated only through surgery that involves synthetic iris replacement. This treatment reduces the amount of light entering the eyes. Before surgery, Trischa could only see objects that were a few feet away but after surgery, her vision improved. Before surgery, her vision was 20/1100 and after surgery, it became 20/850. Fortunately, the surgery did not change her classification in the Paralympics. The surgery was done to cut down glare from light coming into her eyes.  Trischa’s mother asked her to concentrate on sports so she chose swimming. Trischa studied at the University of Nebraska. She was the first visually impaired athlete to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship at the University of Nebraska. Not only that, she was a four-time All-American backstroker. To honor Trischa, USA swimming created the “Trischa L. Zorn award” to recognize swimmers or relay teams with a disability. She holds 12 world records in swimming and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.