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Carlos Leon and Scott Winkler to Train at Lakeshore Foundation as Part of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s VP3 Program
By Susan Katz
// Lakeshore Foundation
// September 17, 2007
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Carlos Leon, who won two medals at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio, will live and train full-time at the Lakeshore Foundation as part of the VP3 program.
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Two athletes have arrived in Birmingham to pursue their dreams of competing at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. Scott Winkler (Grovetown, Ga.) and Carlos Leon (North Lauderdale, Fla.) are injured veterans who recently began competing in Paralympic sport and both have begun training full-time at Lakeshore Foundation, an official U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site, as part of the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Veterans Paralympic Performance Program (VP3). Leon and Winkler will also be coached by Chad James (Birmingham, Ala.), Assistant Track & Field coach at Samford University.
“Lakeshore Foundation has a long history of serving Paralympic athletes and we are pleased to once again work with the United States Olympic Committee and extend the services offered at our training site to our nation’s veterans who are working towards the goal of competing in Beijing,” said Jeff Underwood, Lakeshore Foundation president.
The VP3 is the newest part of the USOC Paralympic Military Programs, supporting talented, committed, severely injured veterans in their effort to represent the United States of America at a Paralympic Games. Through VP3, these veteran-athletes demonstrate to themselves and others the will and abilities that inspire others with physical disabilities and, indeed, all Americans.
Winkler was exposed to discus and shot put at the 2006 USOC Paralympic Military Sports Camp and has quickly experienced international success. He is the current world record holder in the F54 shot put. Winkler joined the Army a few years after high school and became a service technician. In the late 90’s, he took a two-year break from the Army, but realized it was where he felt be belonged, so he returned. In 2003, Winkler fell off an ammo truck in Tikrit, Iraq resulting in paralysis.
Leon has also had a meteoric rise through the ranks of the world’s elite seated throwers. Leon was injured in 2005 while serving in the Marine Corps and just a few months later he was already on the field competing. Leon broke the world record in the F52 discus at the 2007 U.S. Track & Field Nationals and looks to be a strong medal contender next year in Beijing.
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