Earlier this month, we were delighted to host five-time Paralympic medalist Mallory Weggemann as she prepares to represent Team USA in the 2024 Paralympic games and become the first Paralympian to host Olympic coverage on NBC Universal starting August 28.
After a training session in the pool at our Battery Park City campus, we had the chance to speak to Mallory about her athletic journey and shared belief in our mission to transform lives through sports, fitness, and play for all!
*photo retrieved from NBC Sports*
It's been a year [since you became a parent] How does it feel training as a mom? How has that changed your perspective and approach you have for training?
Training as a new momma has added an element of balance, and balance is always relative depending on what stage in life you're in... and so it's been an interesting shift in perspective as an athlete. I think at his stage of my career, training for what will hopefully become my fourth Paralympic games, there's so much more purpose to it as a mom, and I feel so much more grounded as a competitor when I get behind the starting blocks and there's that added bonus of knowing when I look up in those stands, I'll get to see my husband and our daughter. It gives the entire journey so much more meaning.
You’re about to announce that you’ll be the first Paralympian to ever host coverage of the Olympic games on NBC. How does that feel to finally be able to say that?
We're in the city celebrating 100 days out to the Paralympic Games. Secondly, it was announced that I will be hosting the Olympic Games for NBC, and I am so excited. There's a balance that's going to be there being on air as a host during the Olympics, while also training for the Olympics.
It's so exciting because I, for so long, have yearned to see representation for individuals with disabilities in our society and my role as a host is about something so much bigger than myself. It’s about having an opportunity to be a conduit for the remarkable stories that are going to be going on in Paris at the Olympics, and as a woman with a disability on air, building a path forward for future individuals.
Asphalt Green works to provide sports, fitness, and play opportunities to athletes of all abilities. How important is it to provide equitable access to swimming and all different types of active programs?
As an athlete, and someone who has always had the opportunity to have access to sport and play, it is so important to remember that sport is for everybody. As a woman with a disability, we're looking for more access for adaptive sport programs and looking for even more fields of play for all individuals across all walks of life and all zip codes.
It's vital that we remember the fundamental right to just play. Play is how we grow to be who we are, learn creativity, learn teamwork, and learn how to adapt and think outside the box. We have to make it available to everybody.
You’ve also just announced that your documentary, Watershed, is set to premiere soon. Can you tell us more about that?
My husband and I just shared that our documentary Watershed will be debuting on Peacock this summer, and there are a lot of exciting elements to the story. We are co-directors because we wanted to make more authentic representation. We changed the narrative about athletes with disabilities, flipped the script, took it into our hands and told the story ourselves. We're so proud of what it's turned into, and we cannot wait for viewers to experience Watershed.
How Asphalt Green Brings Swim to All
At Asphalt Green, we share and take great inspiration from Mallory’s advocacy to make swimming accessible to all.
To date, our Waterproofing programming has taught over 100,000 New Yorkers how to swim, free of charge, and just a few months ago, we launched Wave Makers, our groundbreaking partnership with the Gray Foundation and City Council Members Julie Menin and Shekar Krishnan to address the structural inequities affecting access to swim instruction.
Learn more about our work to ensure athletes of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can experience the life-changing benefits of swimming.