Christie Raleigh Crossley had a dream of swimming at the highest levels. A car accident and then a tumor delayed that dream, but now she's a Paralympic medalist.
The 37-year-old from Toms River, New Jersey, on Thursday turned the dream into history when she broke the world record in her first race at her first Paralympic Games in Paris. Raleigh Crossley won the first heat in women's 50m Freestyle - S9 with a time of 27.28 seconds. The race qualified her for the final later that day where she won silver with 27.38 seconds, coming 0.28 second behind China's Chen Yi, who broke the world record for the women's 50m freestyle S10.
However, the accomplishment didn't come without years of starting over and skepticism about her disability.
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In an interview with NBC after her silver medal win, the mother of three said she was unable to celebrate her world record because she's been dealing with tension from fellow Paralympians.
"Since I've come into Para swimming, I've been the subject of a lot of bullying and that was on the forefront of today," Raleigh Crossley said. "I want to be a spotlight for people who aren't what you'd typically think a Paralympian is, but because I'm outside the norm and the cookie cutter, it's made me a target."
"When you're dealing with a life-changing disability and then you think you've found a community and to find out there's ableism within that," she added. "It would be very easy to just be quiet about but I feel like too many people have been quiet and that's not gonna be me."
Paris is Raleigh Crossley's first Paralympic Games, but before 2024, she had been working towards the Olympic Games since she was a teen. She pretty much grew up in the water in New Jersey. Her father is a swimming champion and Raleigh Crossley was a competitive swimmer most of her life.
She stayed in the pool after she moved to South Florida, winning state titles in high school and eventually becoming an All-American in college. The Olympic Games in Beijing were in her sight, but a drunk driver derailed that dream for her in 2007.
Raleigh Crossley would recover from her injuries and herniated discs to get back to competing. She got married, had her children, continued to train and held on to her dream to go to the Olympics. She moved back to New Jersey and competed in Division III at Rowan University in Glassboro, winning an NCAA title.
The Tokyo Games started becoming a reality but in December 2018, an honest mistake derailed her from competing at the world's biggest stage once again. Raleigh Crossley's son had picked up what he thought was a snowball, but it was actually a ball of ice, and struck her in the back of her head. It unveiled a tumor in her brain that had to be operated on. The combination of unfortunate incidents resulted in paralysis on her left side.
In Para Swimming, athletes are divided into three categories of disability: visual, physical and intellectual.
Raleigh Crossley's neurological condition is classified as S9, meaning she competes against others whose swimming is similarly impacted by their disability. The line is sometimes blurry when it comes to the classifications, and those who believe Raleigh Crossley should be competing in a different category are already sounding off their disapproval in her Instagram comments after she broke the world record in Paris.
One comment left by Spanish Paralympic swimmer Sarai Gascón Moreno read: "S9? It's a joke?" To which sixth-time Team USA Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, a double amputee, replied "I stand with you!"
Other athletes with neurological disabilities came to Raleigh Crossley's defense, but some also disagreed with her classification.
"I have the same condition as her and it’s dynamic as crap. Anytime I go through classification my body shuts down for a few days. If I treat it right I can crush it. How absolutely disappointing to see this in this sport. We all know classification isn’t perfect," Triathlete Kayla Woputz wrote. "We deal with trying to justify ourselves all day every day to the rest of the world. To have it come from other people in your sport? Ugh."
Raleigh Crossley didn't reply to any of the comments. For the swimmer, she has previously said in interviews, what matters to her is showing her children that she has made it to the biggest competition in the world.
In the same post-race interview, she added that she's going to spend some time with her kids because she hadn't seen them in 11 days. Moving forward, she said she'll continue to use her voice about her disability.
"I'm very much hoping Team USA will back me on this and will protect me from the continued harassment that I face."
