Samantha Bosco

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Samantha Bosco
Personal information
Born (1987-02-18) February 18, 1987 (age 35)
Anchorage, Alaska, US
Education2017, Communications, DeVry University
Height5'8
Sport
Country United States
SportCycling
Disability classC4
Medal record
Cycling
Representing  United States
Paralympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro road time trial C5
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro individual pursuit C5

Samantha Bosco (nee Heinrich; February 18, 1987) is an American Paralympic athlete. She competed in Cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning two bronze medals.

Early life and education[]

Bosco was born on February 18, 1987, in Anchorage, Alaska with a bowed tibia in her right leg.[1] She began cycling with her father at the age of seven but surgery to lengthen her leg at the age of 11 left her with crutches, atrophied muscles, and a surgically stunted left leg.[1][2] As she was unable to cycle, Bosco began rowing and earned a full athletic scholarship to the University of Central Florida. However, the chronic injury forced her to retire from the sport in her junior year.[3] While she was rowing, Bosco developed an eating disorder and struggled to maintain her metabolism upon starting para-cycling.[4] Bosco eventually graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from DeVry University.[3]

Career[]

Upon retiring from rowing, Bosco was encouraged to try para-cycling, and she received a C5 classification. Her first race was in Greenville, South Carolina and she chose to pursue the sport after earning a gold medal in the women’s C5 road race and a silver medal in the time trial.[5]Once she qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Bosco began a GoFundMe to raise $7,500 for her trip.[6]

In the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Bosco earned two bronze medals; one in the C5 individual pursuit and another in the C5 road time trial.[1] In 2017, she won her first World Championship[7] for the 3K Individual Pursuit on her home velodrome in Carson, California. She also competed at the 2019 ParaPan American Games where she won two gold medals in the women’s 500-meter time trial C1-5 and women’s 3,000m pursuit C4-5, and two bronze in women’s time trial C1-5 and women's C4-5 road race.[8]

While training to qualify for the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Bosco worked on her master's degree in accounting and co-ran Bosco Bike Fits with her husband.[8] Once the Paralympics were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she accepted a marketing position for Angel City Sports, an organization started by fellow Paralympic athlete Ezra Frech for athletes with disabilities.[9] She also continued to volunteer as a mentor for Classroom Champions, a nonprofit organization cofounded by retired Olympic bobsledder Steve Mesler.[10]

Once racing started back up in 2021 and re-classified to a C4 after discovering nerve damage in 2019, Bosco went on to compete at the U.S. Paralympics Cycling Open in April 2021 in Huntsville, Alabama and then at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Ostend, Belgium, where she won both the women’s C4 time trial and the 70 km race.[11] That year, Bosco was nominated for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "SAMANTHA BOSCO". teamusa.org. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  2. ^ Bosco, Sam (September 20, 2017). "CLIPPED IN: A PARACYCLIST'S JOURNEY". yoocanfind.com. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Samantha Bosco". one-revolution.org. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Hurford, Molly (September 23, 2020). "How Paralympian Samantha Bosco Fuels to Power Her Rides". bicycling.com. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  5. ^ Royse, Dave (May 18, 2015). "QUICK RISE IN PARALYMPIC CYCLING HAS HEINRICH ENJOYING THE RIDE". teamusa.org. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "Cyclist readies for Paralympics, with help from friends". Claremont Courier. July 28, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "Photo gallery: 2017 world paracycling championships". CyclingTips. 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  8. ^ a b Zhang, Melissa (August 30, 2019). "CYCLIST SAM BOSCO EARNS THIRD MEDAL IN LIMA AS SHE JUGGLES WORK, SCHOOL AND TRAINING BACK HOME". teamusa.org. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "USA's Sam Bosco rekindles love for Para cycling". paralympic.org. August 12, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "With Students Stuck At Home, Classroom Champions Brings Athletes Into Their Living Rooms". classroomchampions.org. March 18, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  11. ^ Pavitt, Michael (May 9, 2021). "Brown and Bosco earn victories as UCI Para-cycling World Cup in Ostend concludes". insidethegames.com. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  12. ^ Kozlowicz, Cathy (July 13, 2021). "'It's an unbelievable feeling': Germantown native wins an ESPY Award". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
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