Young adults often make poor decisions.
For 36-year-old Jarryd Wallace, a two-time bronze medalist at the Paralympic Games, his choice to undergo the amputation of his right leg below the knee six weeks after turning 20 years old gave him new purpose in life — and a decorated athletic career.
A state champion distance runner at Oconee High School in Watkinsville, Wallace earned a scholarship to compete at Georgia. His mother earned all-conference honors as a distance runner for the Bulldogs. His father coached women’s tennis for Georgia for nearly four decades.
Dreams of carrying on his family’s legacy were never realized, though. Compartment syndrome (a painful buildup of pressure around muscles that can happen when you exercise too hard or too often, according to the Cleveland Clinic) halted Wallace’s promising career. Following complications from surgery, he lost more than half the muscle function in his right leg. To be an athlete again, he would have to do so without his right leg.
The then-19-year-old mulled the decision for weeks. He researched the Paralympic world record list and called his parents into the room, pointing at the screen on his computer. His mind was made up.
“My name’s going to be on this list,” Wallace told them.
The Athens native underwent a procedure to remove his right leg from the knee down in 2010, which kick-started a 16-year journey that has had twists and turns of all kinds. He has set world records and won world championships gold medals. He came up short in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games before taking bronze in the 200 meters in Tokyo in 2021. It appeared Wallace’s whirlwind career could not get wilder.
He found a second wind through a switch to the long jump in 2023, which culminated in bronze at both the World Athletics Championships in 2023 and the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024.
And he’s not done writing his story yet.
Wallace took first place in the ambulatory long jump at the USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships last week. He has his sights set on more than just gold in the first summer Paralympics held on U.S. soil since Atlanta hosted the Games in 1996.
“I know I haven’t even gotten close to scratching the surface of what I’m capable of in the long jump,” Wallace said. “What that ceiling is, I’m not sure. But I know I am capable of winning the gold medal in L.A. and I strongly believe that I’m capable of breaking the world record.”
Things don’t always go as planned, which Wallace knows well from his fifth-place finish in the 100 meters at the 2016 Paralympic Games. He entered Rio as a favorite to take home gold, but a respiratory infection derailed his campaign.
Regardless of result, Wallace will cherish his final go for gold.
“To be able to end my career at a home Games, in my fifth Games in my career, with the family in the stadium — really at this point, it ain’t (going to) matter what happens on competition day,” he said. “That’s a story that you dream of, right?”
Athletes nearing the end of their careers often look to cement their legacies, and while that is no different with Wallace, he is also focused on bettering the community that welcomed him following his amputation. He has worked toward impacting adapted athletics through the RIVL Foundation, which he founded.
He said the foundation plans to open a performance lab that “leads research and innovation for the adaptive community” in Watkinsville. It is scheduled to open in August 2028.
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