Stacy Kohut: Paralympic and World Champion Talks about Wheelchair Sports

Stacy Kohut is a world class athlete. Internationally known for skiing, Stacy has competed in elite competitions from Lillehammer, Norway to Nagano, Japan. Although he has won many medals and appeared in major media campaigns alongside superstars such as Ian Thorpe, Muhammad Ali, and David Beckham, Stacy is far from being a house hold name. Why? Stacy Kohut is an athlete who happens to be in a wheelchair.

Stacy has made it to the upper echelons of his sports but is striving to receive the recognition and reward usually won by top athletes. Despite his efforts, he is still trying to find an agent to represent him and an organization to engage him as a spokesperson.

Dr Gene Emmer from ‘Wheelchair’ interviewed Stacy to learn more about the challenges and motivations of wheelchair athletes. Stacy believes that part of the problem is that disabled sportspeople need to be seen as athletes first. He said “The last challenge is to get mainstream media and the big companies to finally get over the ‘inspiration’ hurdle. Athletes like myself need to be promoted for what we are, sports entertainment. We are out there doing our thing, and the very first human reaction a spectator has is of ‘being entertained’, he or she is viewing sports entertainment. The inspiration thing may come later, but it’s all about sports entertainment.”

Stacy also discusses his new passion, Fourcross, an integrated sport which allows competition between all types of athletes, disabled and able-bodied alike. Read the entire interview and see videos of some of Stacy’s accomplishments at:
http://www.newdisability.com/interviewstacykohut.htm

About Wheelchair: Wheelchair ( www.NewDisability.com ) previously named NewDisability, is a website about wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories and wheelchair sports. Best known for the free collection of online wheelchair sports videos, Wheelchair is evolving as a global source of information for wheelchair users.