Deja Young (born June 10, 1996) is an American Paralympic athlete from

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She participates in the T46 sprinting events.

Biography

Deja Young is the youngest daughter of Don and Delora Young, and she has an older sister named Dyani. She was born with brachial plexus, or shoulder dystocia, which has caused nerve damage and limited mobility in her right shoulder. This was caused during childbirth by a panicked doctor who pulled on her head too hard, causing her right shoulder to dislocate. She had to undergo three surgeries to reduce her discomfort.

Sporting career

Young was a standout volleyball and softball player in high school. However, her disability hindered her performance, and she decided to do track and field athletics. When she took part in track events as a freshman, she discovered speed, and has been interested from then on. Young has been an athlete in two Missouri Valley Conference championship teams in 60m and 100m events, and was also a relay team participant in

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

's 400m relay as a freshman and junior. Young participated in her first international athletics event in 2015 in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. She won her first gold medal in the 100 meters by five-tenths of a second, defeating silver medalist

Wang Yanping Wang Yanping (born 22 November 1993) is a Paralympic athlete from China who competes in throwing events for F37 classification athletes. Athletic career Wang became involved in sport in 2005. Her first major international games was the 2011 IP ...

and bronze medalist Alicja Fiodorow. In the 200m final, Young won a silver medal after being beaten by

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n athlete Yunidis Castillo by half a second.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Deja 1996 births Living people Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States Sportspeople from Mesquite, Texas Sportspeople from Dallas County, Texas Track and field athletes from Texas Wichita State Shockers women's track and field athletes World Para Athletics Championships winners Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2019 Parapan American Games Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics