Meet Emily Oberst: Silver Medal Paralympian & Wisconsin Native

·40 min·3 clips

Silver medalist Emily Oberst reveals the surprising weight of her Paralympic medal and why she kept it in her purse in Paris.

The episode begins with hosts Andrea Boehlke and Megan Christian introducing Emily Oberst, a Wisconsin native and Paralympic silver medalist in wheelchair basketball. Emily reveals she brought her medal to the interview and describes its weight, noting she kept it in her purse during celebrations in Paris to avoid losing it. She grew up in Brookfield, Wisconsin, with three younger brothers and had a typical Midwest childhood, including skiing through a school ski club. At age 12, Emily was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare bone cancer in her leg, after experiencing pain during basketball tryouts. She underwent chemotherapy and chose a surgery that replaced her tibia with her fibula from the other leg, which took two and a half years to recover from. At 16, a local coach recruited her for wheelchair basketball after reading a newspaper article about her golfing as a cancer survivor. Initially resistant due to stigma, Emily attended a practice and was immediately hooked by the sport's physicality and competitiveness. She explains that wheelchair basketball requires a physical disability that prevents playing able-bodied basketball, with rules similar to standard basketball except for dribbling and traveling adaptations. Emily played college wheelchair basketball at the University of Alabama and University of Illinois. She describes the four-year commitment to Paralympic training, with annual tryouts for the 12-athlete team. At the Paris Paralympics, her team won silver after a close semifinal against China and a loss to the Netherlands in the gold medal game. Emily details the classification system in wheelchair basketball, where players are rated from 1.0 to 4.5 based on functionality, and teams must field players whose combined ratings do not exceed 14 points. She addresses common misconceptions, particularly from online critics who question her participation since she can walk, emphasizing that classification ensures fair competition. Emily advocates for adaptive sports awareness and encourages watching Paralympic events on Peacock. She plans to compete in the LA 2028 Paralympics and aims for gold, after which she intends to remain involved in the community as an advocate.

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