E.V. Paralympian nominated for Hall of Fame

Tony Volpentest, a Chandler athlete born without hands and feet, may have another award to add to his 27 medals — the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

The four-time Paralympic gold medalist has already won a plethora of awards including the Olympic Committee President’s Disabled Athletes Award and the U.S. Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year Award. Now Volpentest has been nominated for the Olympic Hall of Fame class of 2009.

“It’s one of those types of honors that you like to imagine might happen,” Volpentest said. “It’s mind-numbing.”

This award would only be one of many for the Paralympian who has won 22 gold medals in his career, along with four silvers and one bronze. But Volpentest believes this honor would be the greatest of them all.

“In the world of sports, especially my sport … that’s the highest award,” Volpentest said. “I don’t think there could be anything that could approach that.”

Volpentest, 36, has been running since his sophomore year of high school. After discovering the “flex-foot” carbon-fiber prosthesis, he was able to run competitively, winning gold in the 100, 200 and 400 meters at the World Championships at only 17.

“I was always comparing myself to ‘able-body’ people,” Volpentest said. “The flex-foot allows your body to train at the level of a person with feet.”

Volpentest, who has been retired for almost eight years, is excited with the progress that new Paralympians like Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius are achieving.

“I’d like to think that I was close to that,” Volpentest said modestly. The five-time world champion set numerous records during his career, which spanned more than a decade. The Hall of Fame would be the icing on the cake.

Volpentest said that he is very excited about being nominated in the same year as Michael Jordan and the Dream Team, and his lifelong idol, Michael Johnson.

“It adds to the magic” Volpentest said. “Athletes like Michael Johnson and Michael Jordan — those are the athletes that inspired me.”

Volpentest believes that incorporating Paralympians in the Hall of Fame is a testament to how far they’ve come with the merging of the Olympic and Paralympic games. The Hall of Fame class will include five individuals, one team, one Paralympian, one coach, one veteran and one special contributor.

“This is an opportunity to drive home the message of what people with disabilities are capable of doing,” Volpentest said.

The nominating committee, a 10-member group consisting of athletes, distinguished members of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, media, historians and USOC representatives, selected the finalists, who were announced on April 16. Voting ends on June 16 and the winners will be announced in July. The class will be inducted on Aug. 12 in Chicago. Profits of the induction ceremony will go toward Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Fans count for one-third of the voting, with media and current Olympians counting for the rest. Fans can vote at teamusa.org through June 16.