Zach Shattuck, a Greenbelt native who lived on Hillside Road during his childhood, represented Team USA at the Paris Paralympics earlier this month, where he won a silver medal in the 4 x 50m freestyle relay.
Greenbelt Connections
Much of Shattuck’s family have lived in Greenbelt, including his grandparents Jack and Dolores (Dee) Downs, who resided on Crescent Road from 1958 until their deaths in 2021 and 2023 respectively. Shattuck also coached the Greenbelt Municipal Swim Team Barracudas for the 2022-2023 season.
Shattuck left the Greenbelt Barracudas last year to coach at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he stayed until he left for the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to prepare for the Paralympic Trials. Moving to the training center “gave me a lot more of a sense of where I was at and what I needed to do to get where I needed to be,” he said.
Shattuck, who has dwarfism, was highlighted by the News Review in the December 22, 2022, issue when he was then the new coach for the Greenbelt Municipal Swim Team; during his training at the Greenbelt pool, in the March 23, 2022, issue; and during his journey to the Tokyo Olympics in the August 11, 2021, and September 15, 2021, issues.
Silver Medal
The award-winning relay team was comprised of Leanne Smith, Abbas Karimi, Shattuck and Ellie Marks. Smith of Salem, Mass., was a gold medalist in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S4, Karimi previously swam for the Refugee Paralympic Swim Team in Tokyo in 2021 and Sergeant First Class Elizabeth “Ellie” Marks of Colorado Springs has won gold at each Paralympics since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“My first teammate, Leanne, threw down a 40.0, which is really good for her class. As soon as I saw that I was like, ‘We’re in business,’” recalls Zach of the medal-winning relay race. Teammate Karimi, who has no arms, swam the second leg. “In the final, I’ve got a pretty good idea of when his head’s going to hit,” said Shattuck. “When Abbas touched, I was chasing down the Chinese swimmer [in the third leg in order] to give Ellie her best chance.” With very little practice as a team, Zach’s reaction time off the wall was one-tenth of a second in the final, down from three-tenths in the preliminaries. The Chinese competitor Shattuck was racing was Jiang Yuyan, who lost an arm and leg in an accident at age 4, and who won seven gold medals in Paris. “In the water with Leanne, watching the screen, I realized, ‘Holy smokes! We’re about to win a silver medal!’” Zach remembers.
Close Race for 200 M
Shattuck’s first race of the Paralympics was the 200-meter individual medley (IM) preliminary in which he almost qualified for the 200 IM. He made the finals when another swimmer was disqualified. But just minutes later, the swimmer successfully appealed and the disqualification was overturned. However, Shattuck took the opportunity to focus on the positive and on the relay. If he’d made the finals for the 200 IM he would have had to swim the finals of the relay one hour later. “To be honest, the 200 IM is a challenge for me. It takes a lot out of my body. I was stoked to swim the time I swam ‒ the third fastest I’d ever done. But I also wanted to be as fresh as I could be for the relay [the same day], which was the best chance of medaling. So, when I heard about the disqualification being overturned, I thought, ‘you guys go do your thing, I’ll do mine [in the relay],’” Zach recalls.
Atmosphere
When asked about how Paris responded to the Paralympians, Shattuck said, “The Parisians did an unbelievable job of creating an atmosphere that was unique to the Olympics. In the pool, no matter who it was, the crowd cheered loudly for every single race. To have 14,000 people cheering you on is just incredible.”
Shattuck’s previous Paralympic experience was in Tokyo in 2021. Due to Covid the 2020 Games were delayed one year, and family, friends and the public were not allowed into the various venues to watch the competitions. “It was an immense difference [from Tokyo], where maybe the stands had a couple of hundred people, mostly other athletes and staff, that were eerily quiet. At the Paris Paralympics I got to have an authentic Olympic experience, and that’s what it’s all about. The reception was surprising but not unexpected. Europeans and other cultures around the world do a really good job of embracing athletes with disabilities, and it showed,” Shattuck said.
The Paris experience has given him access to new coaches and friends he’ll have for a very long time. Winning a medal also opens up a lot of opportunities. Shattuck’s family (22 of whom were cheering in the stands at the Paris La Defense Arena) has supported him at every level, from T-ball in Greenbelt to high school varsity soccer and basketball in Carroll County. The assumption by many was that each level probably represented the last one where Zach could be competitive. But Shattuck has continually set his sights on the next level.
“The Olympics and Paralympics is pretty much the gold standard of athletics, and to be able to place my name in that company is something that 10-year-old me would never think I could’ve done,” says Shattuck. “I remember writing as a young teen that I wanted to be the best dwarf athlete of all time. Being an athlete has carried me to where I am, and that’s what made me the swimmer I am.”
What’s Next?
When asked what’s next, Shattuck said, “I’ve got a couple of opportunities to continue coaching at the college level or to get back into club coaching. I also want to explore outdoor education and the nature center areas.”
As far as plans for a possible run at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are concerned, “I want to get back into the gym. I want to buy a bike, swim two-three times a week, a couple thousand yards to keep my body ready. I want to stay close to the water as I decide.”
In the near term, “We have a Team USA visit at the White House this weekend,” shared Shattuck. He’ll ponder his life choices beginning Monday.
Jack Downs lives in Florida and is one of Zach Shattuck’s uncles.