Scout Bassett

Scout Bassett (born Zhu Fuzhi;[1] August 18, 1988) is an American Paralympic Track & Field Athlete.[1][2]

Scout Bassett
Personal information
Birth nameZhu Fuzhi
NationalityAmerican
Born (1988-08-18) 18 August 1988
Nanjing, China
Height4 ft 9 in (145 cm)
Weight86 lb (39 kg)
Sport
Country United States
SportParalympic Track & Field
Disability classT42 / F42
Coached byTonie Campbell
Medal record
Paralympic athletics
Representing  United States
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place2017 LondonWomen's 100m T42
Bronze medal – third place2017 LondonWomen's Long Jump T42
Parapan American Games
Gold medal – first place2019 LimaWomen's Long Jump T42

Bassett spent her first seven years of life in a government-run orphanage in Nanjing, China after she was found abandoned on the side of a street following the tragic loss of her right leg in a chemical fire as a newborn baby. While growing up, she made a makeshift prosthetic leg using leather belts and masking tape and began to walk, aged six, but never went outside of the orphanage in which she was being raised. Bassett was adopted in 1995 by an American couple from Michigan.

Early life

After being adopted just shy of her eighth birthday, Bassett grew up in Harbor Springs, Michigan. On growing up in Harbor Springs, Bassett recalls "They were so unaccepting of me," she says. "The girls were so noninclusive and mean, and being the only Asian in an all-white school was not fun." Scout buried herself in books, plowing through as many political biographies as her brain could digest, and sports, which felt like the easiest and most direct route to assimilation.[1]

After completing high school, Bassett attended UCLA on a full scholarship. She graduated in 2011 with degrees in Sociology and Anthropology.[3]

Paralympic career

Bassett began playing soccer, aged ten before starting her athletic career by participating in the Challenged Athletes Foundation, aged 14, who granted her a prosthetic running leg, then attended the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California at the age of 18. She first started to compete in triathlons and won three silver medals and one bronze medal in the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, in the 2011 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, she went to China for the first time since she was adopted.[4]

Bassett transitioned to track and field before the paratriathlon event was introduced in the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She did an entire first full season of athletic training attempting to qualify for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, when she got the opportunity to try and compete in the US Paralympic team. Bassett came last in the 100m at the US Championships, which was a qualifier for the Paralympic Games, as she failed to make the team and almost decided to quit track and field.[5]

In 2015, Bassett still wanted to be a Paralympian and moved to San Diego so that she could do full-time training and she started breaking national records in the T42 classification.[6] She then went on to qualify and compete in the 2016 Summer Paralympic but ended up being fifth in the 100m and tenth in the long jump. In 2017, Bassett successfully attended the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, United Kingdom, where she won her first international medals in the 100m and long jump. She is currently the world record holder in the 400m T42 and American holder in 100m and 200m.[7]

In 2019, Bassett took home the gold medal in the Women's Long Jump T42-44/T61-63 at the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Bassett was one of 17 athletes featured in eleventh edition of ESPN's Body Issue [8]

References
  1. "Paralympian Scout Bassett embraces her story of scars, survival". ESPN.com. 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  2. "Scout Bassett - Athlete Bio". Team USA. 30 June 2019. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017.
  3. "Bridgestone Partners with Seven Inspiring U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Athletes on the Road to Tokyo 2020". www.abc-7.com. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  4. "Meet Scout Bassett". scoutbassett.com. 30 June 2019.
  5. Lieberman, Stuart (30 May 2017). "Scout Bassett Went From An Orphanage In China To The Paralympics And She's Not Done Yet". Team USA. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017.
  6. Axon, Rachel (9 September 2016). "Paralympian Scout Bassett overcomes disability, challenges through running". usatoday.com.
  7. "Scout Bassett - Challenged Athletes". Challenged Athletes. 30 June 2019.
  8. "The Body Issue". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
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