Success Through Selflessness

In 2004, right before my first Paralympic Games in Athens, I met Jerome Avery at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. With only two weeks to prepare, and no prior experience guiding a blind athlete, Jerome did something extraordinary. He blindfolded himself to get some sort of idea of what I deal with on the daily. Standing in an open field at the Olympic training Center, Jerome put on a blindfold and tried running forward as fast as possible. After a couple steps, he stopped in fear of the uncertainty ahead. That moment defined his commitment to the vision I could see, and the one that would eventually shine clearly in his own mind.

Together, we went on to the Paralympics, world championships, and other domestic and international competitions. Oh, and we got on the podium every single time I might add!

But there’s something deeper - Jerome once dreamed of being an Olympian in the 100m sprint. When I stood on that podium in Athens after winning my first Paralympic medal, he saw that while one door may have closed, another opened. His mantra was born - “Success Through Selflessness”. In his own words, “If he wins, I win.”

Now, introducing Wesley Williams.

From 2004 to 2008, we had an influx of talented sprinters who are blind and visually impaired. My bread and butter has always been jumping events, so given Jerome’s incredible guiding abilities, it made sense for him to focus on helping our sprinters get faster. Jerome had a friend who grew up near his home town and he reached out to see if he might be interested in guiding. That friend was Wesley Williams.

Wesley and I met and we immediately hit it off. When I moved to the Olympic Training Center in 2008, I didn’t realize Wesley and I would have one of the most exciting athletic careers ever.

Wesley would become my long jump caller. Once I moved to Chula Vista, I added the triple jump, 100m, and the 4x100m relay. From 2007 to 2024, we racked up 16 medals at major international competitions, including four spanning four Paralympic Games. We traveled to places neither of us ever imagined traveling to - Italy, Peru, New Zealand, Japan, and so many more. We’ve ridden jet skis in the Persian Gulf. I can even remember us being in Spain, we were heading to our hotel but had to walk through a local neighborhood first and all of a sudden we were running away from a couple dogs that were trying to attack us. The things that we’ve done, the places we’ve been fortunate enough to visit, the people who we’ve met - it’s all been amazing.

Being a guide runner is often thankless. Long hours, 25 to 30 a week, across track, weights, sports medicine, and recovery. Before 2012, they didn’t even receive medals at the Paralympics. But even when they made the decision to award guide runners the same color medal that their athlete received, long jump callers were not, and still aren’t, included. So to be clear, if you compete in a running event, your guide receives a medal if you make the podium, but if you compete in a field event, your guide, or assistant as the Paralympics like to call them, don’t receive a medal. It’s kinda sad because in their mind, I believe they think the guide just stands at the takeoff board and provides the auditory cues for us to know where to run and jump. But if they saw the amount of work the guide does to help us even get to the Paralympics, I think they would change that decision.

These men could have done anything in life, but they chose to help others achieve dreams. Jerome is a four-time Paralympic guide runner. Wesley is a four-time Paralympic guide runner. Between the two of them, I’ve won countless medals, broken many records, and have been able to experience so much around this world. They helped transform my life in ways I would’ve never imagined. They’re not just friends, they’re brothers. When I say, “No Need for Sight When You Have a Vision®,” it shines brighter because I know a vision this big isn’t achieved alone. It took great human beings, and I’m grateful to God I achieved it with them.

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