Paralympics: A shark ripped off her leg, now she swims for gold

A swimmer from the USA is aiming to win a gold medal at the Paralympics in Paris, which begin on Wednesday, after losing a leg in a shark attack 15 months ago. Being able to call myself a Paralympian is “a crazy feeling, especially considering where I was just over a year ago,” said 24-year-old Ali Truwit from Darien, Connecticut, on the US broadcaster NBC News.

Truwit, who was a member of the Yale University swim team for four years, will compete in the 100 and 400 meter freestyle and 100 meter backstroke in Paris. “I love comeback stories,” she told the Associated Press (AP) and CBS News. “I’ve definitely leaned on other people’s comeback stories to hold on to the bold and unrealistic hope of fending off a shark, surviving, losing a limb and making it to the Paralympics within a year.”

“Shark appeared out of nowhere”

Truwit’s own comeback story began on May 24, 2023, off the coast of the Turks and Caicos Islands, when her swimming skills arguably saved her life. The Yale graduate was snorkeling with her friend and former teammate Sophie Pilkinton two days after graduating from college when a “huge shark came out of nowhere and started fighting with us,” Truwit told NBC News.

The sea predator pushed her and Pilkinton and rammed them from below. “We fought back and pushed and kicked, but pretty quickly he had my leg in his mouth,” Truwit described the shark attack. “And the next thing I know, he bit off my foot and part of my leg.”

“My first thought was, ‘Am I crazy or do I have no foot right now?'” AP and CBS quoted the athlete as saying. “It was a really hard thought for me. But you jump into action immediately. So we decided in a split second to swim for our lives.” Bleeding and surrounded by the shark, she and Pilkinton went into competition mode and swam as fast as they could, almost 70 meters back toward the safety of the boat.

On board, Pilkinton applied a pressure bandage to stop the bleeding. “Swimming is the first thing that saved my life, and the second was my teammate Sophie,” Truwit said. “I am forever indebted to her.”

Swimmer must overcome fear of water

Truwit was hospitalized and flown to New York, where she underwent three surgeries. On her 23rd birthday, doctors amputated her left lower leg below the knee. “There were many dark days,” she said. “But I’m alive, and I almost wasn’t.”

As part of her rehabilitation, the young woman finally returned to the swimming pool. “I was really scared […] “The last time I heard the sound of water, we were swimming for our lives,” Truwit told a reporter from US Paralympics Swimming about the start of her comeback. “I remember the whole attack, I was conscious the whole time. So it was hard to hear the sound of water again without having flashbacks of the attack, and that was definitely something I had to overcome.”

Truwit began prosthetic training and strength exercises and underwent trauma therapy to combat her nightmares. “So I wouldn’t let fear take over my life,” she explained. “I didn’t want to lose my love of water as well as my limb.”

The swimmer teamed up with her former coach Jamie Barone to try and qualify for a spot at the Paralympics. She made it to the national championships in Orlando and competed in an international competition in Portugal in April. “She is without a doubt the hardest worker I’ve ever met,” Barone says of his protégé.

Truwit qualifies for Paralympics

And the hard work paid off: At the Paralympics qualifying competitions in Minneapolis at the end of June, Truwit won the 100-meter backstroke, 400-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle races and qualified for the US Paralympics team, which also includes prominent swimmer Jessica Long and a number of other medal winners.

“I think hearing my name on this team reminded me that I am stronger than I think,” Truwit said of her success. “That we are all stronger than we think.”

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