U.S. Paralympic Swimmer Looking for Third Go-Around - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

U.S. Paralympic Swimmer Looking for Third Go-Around

Bismarck is hosting the United States Paralympic swimming trials at the B-S-C Aquatic and Wellness Center.
Jon Schaeffer introduces us to a swimmer who's looking for another go around on his sport's biggest stage.

Challenges present themselves to athletes in all ways. For one man a challenge came in a form most would give up after."I had my legs amputated because of a birth defect." He hit the water at the age of 7 and didn't look back. "I joined the naval swim team and so I would race against kids with full bodies and I used to come in dead last all the time. I made a goal to beat a kid with legs." After working hard in the pool that day came. "Six months later I finally beat a kid with legs and he looked over at me and said man a kid with no legs beat me. And right away I knew this was what I wanted to do." He had no idea about the paralympics at that point in his life until his parents had told him about it. After hearing that big ideas-- hit Rudy's mind. "Well I wanna go there in 2004 when I'm sixteen." He went that year to the Athens games and followed that up with a similar performance in the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. "I was blessed enough to win a gold medal in the 200IM in both games." Rudy hopes to make a third straight paralympic appearance in London this year. The biggest thing he takes away from all of his experience on the Olympic level is "If you stick to your goals and everyday you wake up and think about what you can do on that day to reach your goals four or five years down the road you can achieve anything." In Bismarck, Jon Schaeffer KXNEWS.

Rudy currently lives at the Olympic Training facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
He trains in the water nine times a week.