Karmazin '07 speeds away with silver medal

The Paralympics, which began Sept. 6, honor the athletic excellence of individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The games were started in the wake of World War II to provide an athletic event for the large number of veterans who had suffered serious injuries during combat. The Paralympics have grown since that time into an event where athletes from more than 140 countries participate in 20 sports.

Karmazin has a prosthetic leg, but that didn’t stop him from competing as a heavyweight rower at Princeton. After a distinguished career with the Tigers, it was only natural that he would go on to compete on the international stage.

In fact, Karmazin had already competed in the World Rowing Championships in 2006 and 2007, his junior and senior seasons at Princeton. During those competitions, Karmazin accumulated extensive international experience in the adaptive four rowing event.

For adaptive rowing in the Paralympics, however, everyone was a rookie. The 2008 Paralympics marked two historic firsts: It was the first games at which adaptive rowing was an event, and it was the first games at which medals were awarded. Both historic firsts worked in Karmazin’s favor.

Karmazin rowed for the U.S. team alongside teammates Simona Chin, Jamie Dean, Tracy Tackett and Emma Preuschl. Their time of three minutes, 37.61 seconds in the event final was good for second place behind an Italian squad that led wire-to-wire and finished in 3:33.13.

At the 750-meter mark, the U.S. boat was behind eventual bronze-medal winner Great Britain. A concerted effort in the final stretch gave the Americans a razor-thin margin of less than one second, with the British crew clocking in at 3:38.37. Germany, China and Canada rounded out the field.

Karmazin’s medal was the third for former Princeton rowers. Lind won gold as a member of the U.S. women’s eight, while Coppola earned a bronze medal for the Americans’ come-from-behind finish in the men’s eight.

After the Paralympics are finished, Karmazin will attend medical school at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif..