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Kortney Clemons

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Kortney Clemons
Personal information
Nationality United States
Born (1980-06-23) June 23, 1980 (age 44)
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)

Kortney Clemons (born June 23, 1980)[1] is an American Paralympic athlete and Iraq War Veteran.[2]

He is featured in the 2009 documentary Warrior Champions about American soldiers who lost limbs or suffered paralysis in Iraq, and their way to the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

Early life

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Paralympic athlete Sgt. Kortney Clemons and former New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister reminisce about when they played against each other when Clemons was a high school freshman and McAllister was a senior.

Clemons went to high school in Little Rock, Mississippi. He played football, basketball and baseball.

He played junior college football as a cornerback at East Mississippi Community College before he joined the army.[3]

Military service

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Clemons is a Purple Heart recipient. He served in the United States Army from 2001 to 2006.[4]

He was working as a combat medic in the 1st Cavalry Division.

Clemons lost his leg in Baghdad, Iraq on February 21, 2005, when he and other soldiers were helping a group of soldiers whose car had hit gravel and tipped over. As they were helping, a roadside bomb exploded, and wounded some and killed others. In the first years since this happened, Clemons has worn a bracelet with the name of three soldiers who lost their lives; 1st Lt. Jason Timmerman, Staff Sgt. David Day and Sgt. Jesse Lhotka.[5]

Paralympic career

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Clemons attended a clinic held by U.S. Paralympics at Brooke Army Medical Center in 2005, and then a Military Sports Camp, which was when he started track and field training. He first started competing in power lifting, but chose to commit to track and field in 2007.[6]

He is the first Iraq war Veteran to have qualified for the U.S. Paralympic team.[1][2][7]

He tried to qualify for the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing,[8] but did not make the cut.[9] This is featured in the 2009 documentary Warrior Champions.[10] He is now focusing on the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.[11]

Currently, he is on the roster to compete for the U.S. in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[12]

National championships

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He won the 100m (T42) at the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships, Tempe, Ariz, in 2008.

Education

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He attended Penn State University and participated in their Ability Athlete program.[13][14][15]

Bibliography

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Clemons, Kortney; Briggs, Bill (2008). Amped: A Soldier's Race for Gold in the Shadow of War. John Wiley & Sons. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-470-28137-6.

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b Iraq war vet outruns tragedy, regains athletic drive, USA Today, November 20, 2006
  2. ^ a b Kortney Clemons Archived 2010-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, Hire Heroes USA
  3. ^ Wounded veteran Kortney Clemons takes on Oscar Pistorius at the Paralympic World Cup, The Telegraph, May 23, 2009
  4. ^ House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs - Statement of Sergeant Kortney Clemons, USA (Ret.) Archived 2010-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, veterans.house.gov
  5. ^ Kortney Clemons: A soldier's story of amputation, haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com, March 19, 2010
  6. ^ "Össur Americas".
  7. ^ Iraq war vet outruns tragedy ; Bomb attack took his leg, but couldn't shake his confidence, USA Today, November 21, 2006
  8. ^ Iraq war amputee seeks success on track Archived 2012-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, nbcsports.msnbc.com, 2006
  9. ^ Wounded veterans fill Paralympic ranks, universalsports.com
  10. ^ Warrior Champions: Behind the scenes with Craig Renaud, U.S. Paralympics, November 10, 2009
  11. ^ Clemons' Road to London goes straight through Iraq, U.S. Paralympics, November 10, 2009
  12. ^ "U.S. Paralympics - Features, Events, Results - Team USA". Team USA. Archived from the original on February 27, 2013.
  13. ^ "Ability Athletics helps Wounded Warriors focus on strengths".
  14. ^ "Penn State Ability Athletics to host Run, Walk and Roll Mile Race Oct. 24".
  15. ^ "BTN LiveBIG: Penn State premiere". Big Ten Network.
  16. ^ Warrior Champions Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, Austin Film Festival
  17. ^ "Stockton to host screening of 'Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing'". NJ.com.
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