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Lawrence Sapp Is Ready to Make Waves at the Tokyo Paralympics
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Lawrence Sapp Is Ready to Make Waves at the Tokyo Paralympics
Sapp, who trains with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club, is one of the first two male athletes with an intellectual impairment who will swim for Team USA at the Paralympics.
by KELYN SOONG
JULY 15TH, 2021
Every weekday morning, Lawrence Sapp sets his alarm for 3 a.m. After a quick breakfast of a banana or yogurt, Sapp and his mother, Dee, head to the Lee District Rec Center in Alexandria from their home in Waldorf, Maryland, for swim practice with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club from 4:30 to 6 a.m. Sapp does not skip practices. This has been his typical routine for the past six years.
“He’s always been a very disciplined student of swimming,” says Sapp’s father, Carlton. “He’s the first one at the pool, last one to leave type of athlete … I mean, if we told him he was gonna miss practice, he would be furious.”
Even among the highly accomplished swimmers that compete for NCAP, including Olympians, Sapp stands out. At practice, he only knows one speed. “It’s go fast and hold on,” Sapp’s close friend and teammate Patrick Andrews says. “And he doesn’t give up.” His coach, Jeff King, credits Sapp with making all of the swimmers around him better competitors and people with his mantra of giving his best every day. Sapp’s family and friends see him as a trailblazer and inspiration. Next month, the 19-year-old will head to the Tokyo Paralympics, held from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, as one of the 34 swimmers representing Team USA. He will compete in the S14 classification, for swimmers with an intellectual impairment, and is one of the first two male athletes with intellectual impairments to qualify to swim at the Paralympics for Team USA, according to Erin Popovich, the director of Paralympic swimming with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Sapp was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 17. In the past few years, he has set nearly a dozen American records in the S14 classification and enters the Paralympics with the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the men’s 100-meter butterfly. At the U.S. Paralympic swimming trials in June in Minneapolis, Sapp broke the American record in the event—one of three American records he set at the trials. He will compete in the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley in Tokyo. ... “I want to win gold at the Paralympics [and] show the whole world who I am,” Sapp says.
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Credit: Darrow Montgomery
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Lawrence Sapp Is Ready to Make Waves at the Tokyo Paralympics
Sapp, who trains with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club, is one of the first two male athletes with an intellectual impairment who will swim for Team USA at the Paralympics.
by KELYN SOONG
JULY 15TH, 2021
Every weekday morning, Lawrence Sapp sets his alarm for 3 a.m. After a quick breakfast of a banana or yogurt, Sapp and his mother, Dee, head to the Lee District Rec Center in Alexandria from their home in Waldorf, Maryland, for swim practice with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club from 4:30 to 6 a.m. Sapp does not skip practices. This has been his typical routine for the past six years.
“He’s always been a very disciplined student of swimming,” says Sapp’s father, Carlton. “He’s the first one at the pool, last one to leave type of athlete … I mean, if we told him he was gonna miss practice, he would be furious.”
Even among the highly accomplished swimmers that compete for NCAP, including Olympians, Sapp stands out. At practice, he only knows one speed. “It’s go fast and hold on,” Sapp’s close friend and teammate Patrick Andrews says. “And he doesn’t give up.” His coach, Jeff King, credits Sapp with making all of the swimmers around him better competitors and people with his mantra of giving his best every day. Sapp’s family and friends see him as a trailblazer and inspiration. Next month, the 19-year-old will head to the Tokyo Paralympics, held from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, as one of the 34 swimmers representing Team USA. He will compete in the S14 classification, for swimmers with an intellectual impairment, and is one of the first two male athletes with intellectual impairments to qualify to swim at the Paralympics for Team USA, according to Erin Popovich, the director of Paralympic swimming with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Sapp was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 17. In the past few years, he has set nearly a dozen American records in the S14 classification and enters the Paralympics with the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the men’s 100-meter butterfly. At the U.S. Paralympic swimming trials in June in Minneapolis, Sapp broke the American record in the event—one of three American records he set at the trials. He will compete in the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley in Tokyo. ... “I want to win gold at the Paralympics [and] show the whole world who I am,” Sapp says.
{snip}
Credit: Darrow Montgomery
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