COLORADO, USA — Colorado has a new multi-medalist Paralympian. Swimmer Sophia Herzog took bronze in the 100-meter Breaststroke over the weekend. This is the Fairplay native's second medal, she received a silver medal in Rio back in 2016.
"It's been a lot of fun watching her," her Dad Ralph Herzog said. "We went to Rio. We were all ready to got to Tokyo and then COVID hit but Rio was a great experience for everybody."
While this was not Ralph's first time watching his daughter compete in the Paralympics, it was his last.
Herzog announced she would be retiring after the Tokyo games. Following her qualifying heat, she told NBCSN she was at peace.
"It's really nice to be here representing my country and to end on the podium in my main event would be the cherry on top," she said as she began to cry. "Just to see the next generation coming up and being here is just absolutely incredible and I’m so proud to be here representing my country."
Herzog grew up in Fairplay but spent a great deal of time training at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. Once the pandemic began, she moved to Salida with her family and began training with the Salida swim coach.
"She wasn't going to swim anymore and then she met the high school swim coach here and she just started flourishing again," Ralph said.
"That’s probably the biggest thing people can take away is, the fact that it doesn’t matter what your disability is if you want to do something you can do it."
Ralph says while Sophia is retiring she likely will be doing some kind of coaching in the future.
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