For Paralympic participant Ezra Frech, normalizing a disability is his gold medal

Ezra Frech made history, throwing his arms outstretched and flashing a knowing grin to the cheering crowd. In an NBC interview after setting a world record of 1.97 meters at the U.S. Paralympics qualifying competitions, the budding superstar casually referred to it as “all part of the plan.”

And this plan is just beginning.

Frech won't be content with just winning his first Paralympic medals while pushing the boundaries of disability. The favorite for the high jump title in Paris, who also competes in the long jump and 100-meter dash, will next head to USC, where he became the first transfemoral amputee to compete in a Division I track and field program. He also struts around fashion shows with his prosthetic left leg, graces billboards with a running brace and shares it all on his social media channels, which have more than half a million followers.

“I feel like I have a wonderful burden to share my story and inspire the next generation because this community means everything to me,” said 19-year-old Frech. “I believe I came to this planet to normalize disability.”

For Frech, there is much more at stake than just his own success. He lists what is at stake.

All over the world, children with physical disabilities are abandoned by their parents.

Children with disabilities are bullied far more often than their peers.

Born with congenital limb defects that left him missing the knee or fibula on his left leg and his left hand lacking fingers, Frech spent his childhood in LA feeling like people were staring at him everywhere he went, whispering to him or making fun of him. He was almost always the only one with a physical disability when he played sports.

But his parents, Clayton and Bahar, made sure he had a community in disability sport. The family attended their first disability sport event when Frech was just 5 months old. Actor and family friend John Siciliana 1996 Paralympian, taught Frech to run at age 4. By the time he competed in his first Paralympic competition with his father at age 8, Frech was completely hooked on track and field and left the event in Oklahoma wanting to bring the same opportunity to LA.

Frech's family and friends founded Angel City Sports in 2013. The nonprofit organization offers year-round adaptive sports courses, classes and competitions for children, adults and veterans with physical disabilities. Angel City Sports provides free equipment and coaching and organizes the Angel City Games, the largest Paralympic adaptive sports event in the West.

Frech wants to give back to the disability sports community as much as it has given to him, even if that means the Brentwood High School graduate has to leave that community to compete at USC.

American Paralympic athlete Ezra Frech answers questions in an interview in April.

(Brittainy Newman/Associated Press)

“This is a whole different kind of honor for me,” Frech said of competing against able-bodied athletes in college, “because I know it will change perceptions.”

With everything else he stands for, the critics who write anonymous comments on social media about how he doesn't live up to the hype surrounding his historic commitment to USC are the least of his worries. Instead of proving the critics wrong, he'll go to campus and hope the people who believed in him are right.

“I'm excited to compete with the USC track and field team. But I'm just as excited for the world to just watch and wonder, 'What is going on here? How is this possible?'” Frech said. “For the little boy who is an amputee and loves track and field, it's a great opportunity to see someone who looks like him competing at the college level against able-bodied athletes, just like he hopes to compete against his peers.”

Of the 255 U.S. Paralympians in Paris, 70 are former, current or future NCAA athletes competing against able-bodied competitors. More than half of the U.S. delegation competed in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, junior college, NAIA or collegiate club programs.

At USC, Frech will join fellow 2021 Paralympic competitor Dallas Wise, who placed second in the high jump and triple jump at the Pac-12 Championships last year before winning a bronze medal in the T46/47 high jump, a category for athletes with a one-arm impairment, at the 2023 World Championships.

USC assistant coach Jeff Petersmeyer works with two other members of the U.S. Paralympic team, which is led by three-time Paralympic gold medalist Roderick Townsend. The high jump world record holder in the T47 category is Frech's personal coach and introduced the young star to Petersmeyer around 2017.

Ezra Frech takes part in the final of the men’s high jump T63 at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

(Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)

“He was just a little guy back then,” says Petersmeyer, but now that he is taking part in the Paralympics for the second time, Frech is the “most mature newcomer I will have in my 27 years as a coach.”

“He's just a great person,” Petersmeyer said, “and he's going to bring an unparalleled work ethic and maturity to the team that I think will really help everyone around him.”

Frech knows it will be a challenge to score for the Trojans, whose men's team just finished third at the NCAA outdoor championships, its best since 2003. Petersmeyer says Frech has the potential to score for the Trojans at a conference championship meet or in a dual meet against UCLA. Frech's American T63 long jump record of 7.05 meters (23 feet 1½ inches), which he set at the U.S. Paralympics qualifying events – T63 is the category for single-leg above-the-knee amputees who compete with a prosthetic leg – would have placed him 13th at last year's Pac-12 championships. His T63 world high jump record of 1.97 meters (6 feet 5½ inches) would have put him just short of 10th place.

But doubt him at your own peril. Frech has already made a habit of exceeding expectations.

Frech grew up competing with able-bodied peers in soccer, baseball and basketball, but discovered his calling in track while watching the 2016 Paralympics. At age 11, he pledged to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. At 16, he was the United States' second-youngest athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics, where he set a personal best in the high jump despite a rainstorm.

Instead of basking in his glory, Frech called it “undoubtedly one of the most devastating moments of my life.” He finished fifth, missing the podium by three centimeters.

Frech strode through the arena, memorizing the feeling of the rain as it soaked through his uniform. The sight of the empty stands. The feeling of envy as he watched his competitors celebrate, posing together in the traditional way and holding their national flags above their heads.

He saved a photo of the cheering medalists as his phone's lock screen.

“It felt like the origin story of the hero or the villain,” Frech said.

The articulate, charismatic and resident of the host city of the next Paralympic Games, Frech has positioned himself for years as the Pied Piper of the Paralympic movement. He avenged the disappointing result in Tokyo by winning his first world title in the high jump last year. When he pulled off a surprise at this year's world championships, finishing with a silver medal, Frech responded by resetting the world record at the U.S. Paralympic trials in July.

He leapt straight off the high jump mat after clearing the 6-foot-5 bar and leapt into Townsend's arms, facing the camera and waving his hands in front of his chest to highlight the black text on the front of his white shirt.

“Day 56/100,” read the T-shirt, “until I win gold.” A piece of black tape covered the word “Paralympic.”

Frech spent the summer counting down the days until his chance at a Paralympic podium finish, posting daily videos to his social media channels, but he can hardly put into words the excitement he feels toward his ultimate goal.

“I would give up every medal, every world record, every national championship title,” said Frech, “if it meant I could normalize disability.”