V.I.’s Jahmaris Nesbitt Aims for a Medal at Paralympic Games

The United States Virgin Islands sole Paralympian, Jahmaris Nesbitt, will compete this weekend at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 Paralympic Games was delayed for one year, as the Olympics were, and had its opening ceremony on Tuesday at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. Nesbitt will compete in the women’s 100 meter race in the T38 division at 10:38 am in Japan, which will be 9:38 pm in the Virgin Islands. She qualified for the Games at the Desert Challenge Games in Mesa, Arizona, by finishing third with a time of 17.33 seconds. She said she is competing “for my love of running and due to my distance times when I ran with other cadets of JROTC.”

Nesbitt said she hopes to return to the territory with a medal.

“My goal at the Paralympics is to do my very best and God willing bring home a medal,” she said.

In the Paralympics, the athletics sport class consists of a prefix “T” or “F” and a number. The prefix T stands for track and jumping events, and F stands for field. The 30s sport classes are allocated to athletes with involuntary movements, uncoordinated movements and/or muscle tension. Athletes in the sport classes 35-38 show a better function in their legs and better trunk control and therefore can compete standing, for example, in running events, long jump or throwing events.

Nesbitt’s impairments include cerebral palsy, hip dysplasia, hyperextensions, and slightly uneven legs.