Derek Loccident is among the U.S. competitors who earned a medal in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. The U.S. secured a total of 105 medals in the games. Loccident is a client of a Mercy facility.
Sarah Adam is another 2024 Paralympics competitor who is a Mercy client. She trained at Mercy Sports Performance by EXOS in St. Louis.
The U.S. team earned 105 medals at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, and three of those medals were secured by clients of Mercy facilities or their teams.
Sarah Adam was part of the co-ed wheelchair rugby team that won a silver medal; and Derek Loccident took silvers for his performance in the high jump and the long jump. The Paralympic games took place Aug. 28 through Sept. 8.
Adam is the first woman to compete in the Paralympics on the U.S. wheelchair rugby team.
Adam, who is 33 and from Naperville, Illinois, was the first woman to play wheelchair rugby for the U.S. According to her profile on the Team USA website, she discovered the sport while volunteering during occupational therapy school. She first gained prominence in wheelchair rugby in 2019, then earned a spot on the national team in 2022.
In 2023 in Santiago, Chile, she became the first woman to win a gold medal with U.S. wheelchair rugby.
Adam is a professor of occupational therapy at Saint Louis University. She trained with Bret Kelly at Mercy Sports Performance powered by EXOS, a St. Louis-area facility that trains athletes of all levels, from "weekend warriors" to professionals. St. Louis Cardinals baseball players and St. Louis Blues hockey players are among its clientele.
Adam trains for her sport.
Loccident, who is 26 and an Oklahoma City resident, suffered a life-altering accident that severed his left foot when he was a sophomore at the University of Central Oklahoma. Having played football and run track, Loccident began focusing on track and field three years after his accident.
He medaled in multiple World Championships before competing in Paris.
Loccident has worked with David Husling, Mercy director of therapy services and sports medicine.
Mercy is based in Chesterfield, Missouri.