Joe Wise (born May 22, 1993) is a retired member of the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team and is a 19-time American Record Holder. He competed for the United States at both the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

. Wise swam for 10 years total, 7 years in Paralympic swimming.

Personal life

In 2002, at the age of 9, Joe Wise was diagnosed with mitochondrial myopathy - a severe muscular disorder affecting his legs, hips, core muscles and lungs. At the early age of 9, doctors told him and his family he would not live to see the age of 15. In 8th grade, Joe was using a wheel chair, and having an extremely hard time walking. After doing a lot of leg exercises to strengthen his muscles, he was once again able to walk on his own. Joe now uses a life support volume ventilator every day which helps him breath because his lungs are so weak. Wise attended Loyola University Maryland in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

from 2011-2015 where he was a member of the men's swimming team. On December 3, 2013, Wise announced that he retired from swimming due to health issues. Wise now resides in Austin, Texas and works at Dell.

Career

*2012: Named to the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Team for London, England August 29 through September 9 *2011: Pan Pac Para-Team Member *2010: United States President Volunteer Service Award Recipient *2008: U.S. Paralympic Team member, Swimming - Paralympic Games, Beijing China *2008: American record, 400m IM, 800m freestyle and 1,500m freestyle - CanAm Championships, Victoria, British Columbia *2007: Two fourth-place finishes, 100m back, 400m free - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *2006: Gold medal, 400m free - U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships, San Antonio, Texas *Ambassador for United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation *Pacific Swimming LSC Athlete Representative

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Joe 1993 births Living people Paralympic swimmers of the United States Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics American male freestyle swimmers American male backstroke swimmers American male medley swimmers 21st-century American people