In Beijing, Hillsborough woman wins gold … silver and bronze

By John Patten Managing Editor
   HILLSBOROUGH — Wheelchair racer Jessica Galli of Hillsborough and Savoy, Ill., has won medals in each of the six events she competed in at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
   After capping her performances with a bronze medal-winning race in the women’s 4×100-meter relay at 7:18 a.m. Tuesday (Eastern Daylight Savings time) she counted one gold, three silver and two bronze medals won at the 2008 Paralympic Games.
   Her gold medal winning performance in the women’s 400-meter race Sept. 10 broke her own world record, with a winning time in the final race of 54.88 seconds.
   ”My intention and focus was to break the world record, but I had no idea I could go under 55-seconds,” said Ms. Galli, a 2002 Hillsborough High School graduate. “This is my third Games and this is my first Paralympic gold medal, so it means a lot to me.”
   She followed with a silver medal in the 100-meter races Friday, silver medals in the women’s 200-meter and 800-meter races Monday, and bronze medals won in the 1,500-meter and the relay Tuesday.
   Ms. Galli is a Hillsborough native currently studying for her master’s degree in community health at the University of Illinois. She has been a competitive wheelchair racer since she was about 9-years-old, when she joined the Lightening Wheels, a team at Children’s Specialized Hospital, in Mountainside, where she was treated after she broke her back in a 1991 car accident.
   ”I had great treatment and I came out with a very positive attitude,” Ms. Galli, said in an interview earlier this year. “The coach at the hospital convinced me to come to track practices and I realized I was good at the sport.”
   Ms. Galli said that, while at Hillsborough High School, although she continued to compete with the Lightening Wheels, she would practice with the school’s cross country team. She said she credits teachers and coaches there with giving her the opportunities to continue her training and make lasting friendships.
   ”Allowing me to be on the teams in high school was great,” she said. “My teammates and I formed social ties and friendships. They got to see what I could do, and I have many friends from the sport.”
   Ms. Galli’s love of sports did not begin with track as she studied gymnastics and played on a local basketball team before the accident. In the end, though, she said she realized that the single sport of track was more her style.
   ”I’m not really a team person,” she said. “I like to rely on me and my motivation.”
   She described her world-record setting performance on her Web site, www.jessicagalli.com, where she said she was surprised to learn the race set a new record.
   ”Going into tonight’s 400-meter final I felt confident, but also a little nervous,” Ms. Galli wrote after the race. “I suppose the nerves are what make us human and I think they only help in times like tonight.”
   She noted she was seeded in Lane 5 — “which was a good lane.” The eight racers competing in the final race represented Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Mexico and the U.S. (three competitors, including Ms. Galli). The race started with a false start, and Ms. Galli reported feeling a little tightness in her arms, which she shook out before another start to the race.
   She said she started the race quickly and took the lead. She felt relaxed until the racers were heading into the race’s second turn, when she heard another racer gaining.
   ”I knew then that I was not alone in the race and coming out of the final turn I gave the race all that I had,” she said.
   ”Tonight’s race was absolutely incredible — I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start off my third Paralympic Games,” she wrote.
   Ms. Galli was named the 2007 U.S. Olympic Paralympian of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee in recognition of her earlier accomplishments.