David Blair

Started: He began throwing the discus at high school and continued through university, before giving it up. He took up Para athletics in 2015 after 16 years away from the sport. (teamusa.org, 19 Sep 2016) Reason: He never considered becoming a thrower growing up as his passion was baseball. One high school coach told him that it would be easier to get a scholarship in a field event than in baseball, so he decided to try non-Para athletics. Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius' performance at the 2012 Olympic Games in London motivated him to think about picking up the sport again as a Para athlete. In 2015 he learned Jeremy Campbell had become the first Para athlete to throw over 60 metres and made the decision to start pursuing the sport. "It made something in my head click. I'm like, 'Hey, he [Pistorius] has more movement in those prosthetics than I have in my foot. In 1999, which was nine years sooner, almost 10 years sooner, I'd already thrown that [60 metres], but I'd thrown it with a heavier implement. My freshman year in college, which was 1994, without question I could've thrown it 60 metres." (teamusa.org, 06 Nov 2020) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (usparatf.org, 17 Mar 2024) Awards: He won the Male Adaptive Athlete of the Year award at the 2016 Governor's State of Sport Awards, presented by the Utah Sports Commission. (teamusa.org, 19 Sep 2016) Additional Info: RETURN TO ATHLETICS After winning a high school state championship in the discus throw against non-Para athletes, he received an athletic scholarship to Weber State University in Ogden, UT, United States of America. He quit the discus after university, but in 2015 he discovered that he was eligible to compete at the Paralympic Games, and returned to the sport after 16 years away. "I had no idea that my limb deficiency would have qualified me for the Paralympics. I still remember how bad the pain was on my very last meet in college." (teamusa.org, 06 Nov 2020, 19 Sep 2016) SCOUTING He has a long-term affiliation with the Eagle Scout troop, having been a scout, scoutmaster, and committee chairman among other roles. "It was every Wednesday, and we always went to the scout camps, earned the merit badges that we needed to and put in my time on my own to make sure that I got the requirements done. I still remember the pain in my foot I had the morning after a long, 20-mile hike at Camp Loll. I was not much use for walking the next day but still went out on all the activities and if they needed to wait for me, they did. No complaining from them. I think now more than ever, this generation of young men need something like scouting to get them out from in front of their screens, learning hands-on about new things and seeing new places that they have never been and would not have been otherwise." (blog.scoutingmagazine.org, 14 Sep 2016)