Sam Grewe Strives For Greater Heights, On and Off The Track
The 25-year-old Paralympic high jump champion believes that the "sky is the limit."
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Athlete Bio#
Height
6'1"
Age
26
Hometown
Middlebury, IN
Education
University of Notre Dame
classification: T42/F42
Quick Facts
- Son of Randall and Michelle Grewe.Has one older sister, Audrey.
Played lacrosse, basketball and football in his small community of Middlebury, Indiana.
Just before Christmas in 2011, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer that resulted in the amputation of his right leg after spreading to his knee.
Two days before his amputation took place in 2012, the University of Notre Dame football team adopted Grewe, supporting and allowing him to be on the field for games during their undefeated regular season run to the BCS National Championships game.Nearly a year later, Grewe was cancer free.
The experience inspired him to return to athletics in which he discovered the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA), a Paralympic sport club based in Lake Forest, Illinois.
In less than a year, Grewe progressed from his first Paralympic competition at the 2015 Desert Challenge Games to representing Team USA at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he upset the field to win the men’s high jump world title.
Hobbies include playing lacrosse, basketball and football.
Aspires to go into biomedical engineering with hopes of working to develop prosthetics.
Favorite movie is Forrest Gump. Favorite athlete is Russell Westbrook.
Paralympic Experience
- 3-time Paralympian; 2-time Paralympic medalist (1 gold, 1 silver)
- Paralympic Games Paris 2024, 8th (High Jump T63 - Men)
- Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, gold (High Jump T63 - Men)
- Paralympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016, silver (High Jump T42 - Men)
World Championships Experience
- Most recent: 2024 – bronze (High Jump T63 - Men)
- Years of participation: High Jump T63 - Men 2019, 2024; High Jump T42 - Men 2015, 2017
- Medals: 4 (3 gold, 1 bronze)
- Gold – 2019 (High Jump T63 - Men); 2017 (High Jump T42 - Men); 2015 (High Jump T42 - Men)
- Bronze – 2024 (High Jump T63 - Men)
