Ben Goodrich | Tokyo 2020 Olympic Profile
Team USA para judoka Ben Goodrich explains how he has become a successful athlete in multiple sports despite being legally blind since birth.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN GOODRICH: A little bit of background on me. I was a 2016 paralympian, and then I guess my life started in Minnesota. I grew up with my parents, Scott and [INAUDIBLE]. I went to Green Academy from high school, I was a three sport athlete in high school, and I graduated as an athlete the year. I did all that while being legally blind since birth. I have-- I've tried to compete in sport my whole life. I even did cross country one fall season just because I wanted to be able to compete.
From 2011 I started pursuing a career in judo, and I flourished as I said, into 2016 Rio. And then since then, obviously, we've been training towards Tokyo. Going into the shutdown and last year, I had already medaled three times in the beginning of 2020 before the shutdown. So I was on a good pace to continue and hopefully build, obviously to medaling and on the podium there in Tokyo. We just got a little delayed, and we had to go through a lot of ups and downs this year.
