Over the Black Line

With a roll of tape in my hands, I sat on the floor of our garage and carefully re-created my own version of the black line. As I extended it forward, I placed a “T” at the exact point where my face would hover as I trained on the VASA trainer each day and continued the pursuit of my dream of representing Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

BY MALLORY WEGGEMANN

PARALYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST & AUTHOR OF LIMITLESS

The days felt long, filled with more questions than answers - all I could seem to wrap my head around was that our state had gone into shelter in place and with that meant I lost access to my training facility. We had yet to hear what this would mean for the Tokyo Games and the reality of what our world was facing felt all consuming. So, there I sat in the middle of March and I turned to what I know best, the black line.

The truth is that it has led me forward my entire life. It is where I fell in love with the sport of swimming as a sevenyear-old age group swimmer. It is the place that welcomed me home following my paralysis at the age of 18. It is where I have grieved my greatest loss, navigated the depths of heartbreak, found the courage to forgive, the strength to move forward and the resilience to keep showing up and fighting for my dreams.

For swimmers, the black line serves as a point of reference – it doesn’t carry us all the way to the wall, but rather 1.6 meters away it stops in a T, signally us for either a turn or a finish. For me, there is something spiritual about what that signifies – the understanding that while it can guide us forward, we have to choose how we finish.

For weeks I hovered over my makeshift black line, staring at the T I had created, knowing that on my VASA trainer I would never actually reach the wall – I didn’t know how it would end. Although, that doesn’t mean you stop showing up, that you stop fighting.

That space that exists between the T and the wall is where I became a Paralympic Champion at the London 2012 Games, winning the 50m Freestyle and breaking the Paralympic record in the final meter of the race. I went in as the underdog, halfway through the race I was in 6th place, I fought for every inch of that pool and in the final meter I chose how to finish.

I think back to all the places the black line has led me in my life and after being a competitive swimmer for nearly 25 years I am most grateful that it has led me home. When I first fell in love with the sport, I never imagined that at the age of 18 I would become paralyzed, I never imagined it would save my life and I never imagined it would lead me to the top of the Paralympic podium. Above all, it has taught me that it isn’t the circumstances in our lives that define us, but rather how we choose to react, the way in which we show up and how we choose to finish the race.

Somewhere over the black line I found my LIMITLESS potential within - one we all possess, we just have to find the courage to honor our own journey and believe in the power of hope and resilience to overcome circumstance.

This March 2, Mallory will tell her inspirational story in a book titled, Limitless: The Power of Hope and Resilience to Overcome Circumstance, in which Mallory shares her life story and the lessons she learned by pushing past every obstacle, expectation and limitation that stood in her way. Readers will learn how Mallory’s extraordinary resilience and uncompromising commitment to excellence are rooted in her resolve, perseverance, and sheer grit. Visit malloryweggemannbook.com to explore more and preorder your copy of Limitless today!