Kortney Clemons
| File:Kortney Clemons.jpg | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | June 23, 1980 |
| Residence | Little Rock, Mississippi |
| Height | 5 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.
Contents
Early life
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
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
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
He won the 100m (T42) at the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships, Tempe, Ariz, in 2008.
Education
He attended Penn State University and participated in their Ability Athlete program.[13][14][15]
Bibliography
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Filmography
- Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing, a documentary film by directors Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud.[16][17]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Iraq war vet outruns tragedy, regains athletic drive, USA Today, November 20, 2006
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kortney Clemons, Hire Heroes USA
- ↑ Wounded veteran Kortney Clemons takes on Oscar Pistorius at the Paralympic World Cup, The Telegraph, May 23, 2009
- ↑ House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs - Statement of Sergeant Kortney Clemons, USA (Ret.), veterans.house.gov
- ↑ Kortney Clemons: A soldier's story of amputation, haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com, March 19, 2010
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Iraq war vet outruns tragedy ; Bomb attack took his leg, but couldn't shake his confidence, USA Today, November 21, 2006
- ↑ Iraq war amputee seeks success on track, nbcsports.msnbc.com, 2006
- ↑ Wounded veterans fill Paralympic ranks, universalsports.com
- ↑ Warrior Champions: Behind the scenes with Craig Renaud, U.S. Paralympics, November 10, 2009
- ↑ Clemons' Road to London goes straight through Iraq, U.S. Paralympics, November 10, 2009
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Warrior Champions, Austin Film Festival
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kortney Clemons. |
- Kortney Clemons - Profile at the official website of the U.S. Paralympic Team
- Kortney Clemons: A Paralympian Story on YouTube
- Kortney Clemons interview NBC News on YouTube
- Warrior Champions, the official site of the documentary
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- Pages with broken file links
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Paralympic track and field athletes of the United States
- Living people
- American military personnel of the Iraq War
- United States Army soldiers
- 1980 births
- American sprinters
- Recipients of the Purple Heart medal
- Penn State University alumni
