U.S. Adaptive National Team athlete Scott Brown is preparing to race in the 2008 Paralympics. It will be the first time rowing will be included in the event, which will take place September 6-18 in Beijing, China.

Brown is considered by his teammates and the rowing world as a pioneer in the sport of adaptive rowing. The five-time gold medal winner has been on the U.S. national adaptive team since its inception in 2002. Competition has elevated exponentially since then, both in the number of countries participating and in the skill and strength of athletes. 

In 1987, Brown was injured in a car accident and lost both legs.  During rehab, he tried playing basketball, but said it wasn’t the sport for him. He was approached by a volunteer from the Philadelphia Rowing Program for the Disabled (PRPD), who told him about the sport of rowing.  He went to check the program out and discovered that the sport revealed benefits far beyond his expectations. Rowing gave him the doorway to retrieving his life.

“Rehab taught me skills, but rowing at PRPD re-aclimated me back into my life,” said Brown. “I saw all the other disabled folks, some bitter, some which got over their issues and moved on with life. That’s what I wanted, so I took advantage of that.” 

At PRPD there is a holistic integration of the disabled and the able-bodied world.  Volunteers and staff come from all walks of life, and everyone works together. 

“I was seen for the person that I am, not for my legs that are missing,” said Brown. “Why rowing? I’m good at it, and I just love being out on the water. It is so natural. I train on the Schuylkill River, in the middle of the city of Philadelphia, where I can look downriver and see the skyline. On the water, I can push myself.  I never got that feeling with any other sports. Rowing just clicked for me.” 

In 2001, Brown was introduced to Isabel Bohn, the director and founder of PRPD. Bohn was instrumental in elevating adaptive rowing on the international level with the intent of getting rowing included as a Paralympic sport. Over the course of the year, she recruited the first adaptive team that represented the United States in Seville, Spain, for the debut of adaptive rowing at the World Rowing Championships. By the time Bohn approached Brown, he had already been involved in adaptive rowing for 15 years. The possibility of competing at the international level inspired him to train and prepare for the event. 

Unlike other Paralympic sports, adaptive rowing is included in the able-bodied World Rowing Championships.  The inclusion of adaptive rowing has been awe-inspiring for the adaptive athletes, as well as the able-bodied athletes.

“It has inspired us to achieve the same level of preparation and training as the best rowers in the world, and at the same time, I think they see us overcoming obstacles they take for granted,” said Brown.

Adaptive rowing events are classified by the athlete’s ability to use their legs, trunk and arms. For athletes that can row with a sliding seat, athletes compete in a four with coxswain, a boat of mixed abilities and consisting of no more than two men.  Athletes that can row with a fixed seat using their trunk and arms row in mixed gender double sculls. Athletes that can row arms only compete in a single scull. This year at the world championships in Munich, a record 23 countries participated in the four adaptive events.

Since 2003, Brown has partnered with Angela Madsen from Long Beach, Calif., in the double sculls.  They met at the Bayada Regatta, the only exclusively adaptive regatta in the United States.

“Rowing trunk and arms requires an enormous amount of core and upper body strength,” said Brown. “Imagine racing arms and body only for 1,000 meters without your legs to stabilize the boat.”

In 2006, Brown and Madsen met stiff international competition at the world championships. They were challenged in the double by Poland, and won by only a 3.6-second margin. Last year, the duo finished in fifth place, with four countries breaking their world record.

With the Paralympics only a few months away, Brown wants to be back on the podium in Beijing. 

“I have a very supportive wife, family and friends,” said Brown. “I know what it is going to take and nothing will stop me from that goal.”