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HILLSBOROUGH: Galli’s off to London Paralympics

Ex-resident goes for gold in wheelchair events

By Jashvina Shah, Special Writer
   Resting on Phil Galli’s desk at work is a picture of his daughter, Jessica.
   In the photo, Jessica is sitting with a bathing cap on a pool deck, her wheelchair by her side. The caption below the ad reads, “Sometimes there are no limits.”
   ”There are a lot of restrictions that everyone have,” Mr. Galli said, “but in your mind, there should be no limits on what you can do, both able-bodied or physically disabled. We create glass ceilings for ourselves, and we shouldn’t. We should just power through being what your dreams that you should be.”
   The phrase, now Ms. Galli’s motto, has helped her gain a berth in her fourth, and possibly final, Paralympics Games from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9. She will compete in the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-meter wheelchair events in London, which traditionally follow the quadrennial Olympic Games at the same venues.
   The Savoy, Illinois, resident and 2002 Hillsborough High School graduate was rendered a paraplegic in 1991 after the vehicle in which she was a passenger veered off Route 206 and hit a tree, leaving the 7-year-old paralyzed from the waist down.
   Ms. Galli rehabilitated at the Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside and started wheelchair racing for the hospital’s Lightning Wheels team.
   It was the first time Mr. Galli ever watched his daughter compete in a wheelchair race.
   ”She was a very shy little girl,” he said. “She went to watch the first time and then decided that she liked it and started to compete.”
   Since wheelchair racing was the only sport Ms. Galli enjoyed and could succeed in competitively, she stuck with it. Serious training began in 1996 and helped Ms. Galli reach her first international competition at the 1998 World Championships.
   Ms. Galli, 28, since has competed in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Paralympics Games. As a 16-year-old in Sydney in 2000, no one expected her to finish highly, but she made it to the podium with a silver medal.
   Racing in the 400-meter event in Beijing in 2008, Ms. Galli found what she felt she deserved, breaking the world record to win her first, and only, gold medal.
   ”I honestly thought I was going to lose,” Ms. Galli said. “My closest competitor was Chinese, and I knew when the crowd was yelling louder and louder, she was getting closer and closer.”
   A video of the event is misleading, she said.
   ”I really felt that she was right there, and I was just hanging on for dear life,” Ms. Galli said. “All I did was put my head down and push as hard as possible. I looked up when I crossed the line and saw that I had broken the world record, and it was just an overwhelming feeling of happiness.”
   Ms. Galli’s parents, who still live in Hillsborough, witnessed their daughter’s victory live. It was extremely special for her father, who served as Ms. Galli’s first coach.
   ”It was amazing. I was sobbing,” Mr. Galli said. “The Chinese woman was in second place, and 93,000 people started to roar, and it was chills down your spine. My hands were shaking.”
   Mr. Galli likened the arc of his daughter’s international career to that of Michael Phelps even though the swimming sensation has won more than twice as many medals. Both were introduced to the Olympics in Sydney, discovered in Athens and reached full potential in Beijing, he said.
   Ms. Galli was able to reach her potential in 2008 because of a string of adjustments, she said. A special coach kept her training focused while she attended graduate school and competed at the University of Illinois, motivating her to train harder.
   ”That has been the biggest change, having these incredible coaches who know what they’re doing and can create these plans,” Ms. Galli said. “It’s not just, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do for the next week.’ It’s ‘here’s what we’re going to do for the next six months to get you ready.’”
   Training and coaching have contributed to Ms. Galli’s six Paralympics medals, but racing competitively isn’t her only passion. She is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Athletes Advisory Council.
   When Ms. Galli started her wheelchair racing career, the Paralympics were not represented by/on the USOC Athletes’ Advisory Council. The Paralympics portion was founded in the early 2000s, and she has seen the council’s progression during her racing career.
   ”I realized that all of those changes came along only because athletes before me fought for them and really wanted to se change, wanted to see the next generation of athletes had it better than they did. It just inspired me to apply for that position,” Ms. Galli said.
   Ms. Galli’s role on the council may foreshadow her life after wheelchair racing. Ms. Galli, who has a master’s degree in community health, said she is considering working with a sports organization for disabled athletes or health agencies.
   She holds a master’s degree in community health with a concentration in health policy and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
   The Hillsborough native sees competition in London as a likely end to her wheelchair racing days and plans to move to Atlanta to live with her fiancé, Gavin Cloy.
   ”I have been thinking about retirement, but not because of a poor performance or disappointment,” she said. “It’s just that I’m finally hitting that mark in my life where I think there’s more for me to do than wake up every morning and head out to the track.”