Sue Moucha
Episode 28
12 AUG 2019
A four-time member of Team USA for the Paralympics, winning seven medals – two silver and three bronze in swimming, and two GOLD in running. She set one world record in swimming and holds two American records in swimming. In all she has amassed an amazing 250 trophies from able-bodied competitions. A lifelong Catholic, she was also a 1996 Olympic torchbearer.
Notable guest quotes:
“Back when I was growing up, in elementary school, you had a disability you were put sort of to the side a little bit, so I was always a spectator. And when I started participating in sports, it was like, ‘Wow, I’m good at something.’ And … one thing leads to another, it helps your self-confidence, it brings you out. I had something to share with people in conversation.”
“I was Catholic, I went to Nativity Catholic School and… I received the Distinguished Alumni (Award) from every single school I’ve attended – elementary, high school, college, and graduate school. I went to Tampa Catholic High School.”
“What bothered me a little bit in high school was, I was still trying to accept my disability. I did not participate in the Paralympics until I was age 21. So, I was still trying to work at accepting my disability, so I didn’t participate in sports in high school.”
“For myself, being disabled and handicapped, to see something concrete that says, ‘Wow, you’re good at something. You received first place,’ it just carries over. It helped my self-confidence in the way I carried myself.”
“When I was little I’d say, ‘Oh God, I wish I could do that. Ya’ know? Why can’t I do things like everybody else?’ And God introduced me to the Paralympics and this was His way of telling me, ‘Sue, you’re good at something and you can share this with others’.”
“I have said that tremendously, quite a bit. When I was little I’d say to God, ‘Why me’?”
“My mother was the one that got the sign (language) interpreter person involved (at Mass).”
“I present an award every year named after me, the Sue Moucha Overcoming Adversity Award, and I think that that is so neat because I’m disabled and this is an able-bodied field.”
“I’ve had to ask God to help me to accept it. And once you accept something you can move forward… I just pray to God 24/7 to help me through life… God’s helping me all the time.”
