Melissa Stockwell
Representing: USA 
Gender: Female
Athlete Year of Birth: 1980
Athlete Place of Birth: Grand Haven, MI
Athlete Weight: 130lbs
Athlete Height: 5ft 5
Website: http://melissastockwell.com
WTS Ranking: No Ranking
ITU Points List:: No Ranking
Athlete Biography
After swimming in Beijing, I started to run and bike more, and triathlon was the natural next step as I loved the workout variety it gave me. I competed in multiple triathlons on relay teams with the Challenged Athletes Foundation Operation Rebound team, and did my first full Olympic distance tri in Chicago in 2009.
The person who has had the most influence on my sporting career is the late Jimi Flowers, my swim coach leading up to and in Beijing. He taught me that anything is possible and that when you have a bad day, it is what it is.
I currently train in Chicago, IL, and during a typical week, I swim two hours, bike five hours, and run four hours. My personal best run time (5km) is 29:50. I’ve participated in the Challenged Athletes Foundation Operation Rebound, Wounded Warriors Project’s Soldier Ride, the Great Lakes Adaptive Sport Association. My triathlon goal is to qualify for the World Championship in Hungary.
The biggest obstacle I have overcome in life has been the loss of my leg from a roadside bomb in Iraq, in 2004, and learning to live my life without it, and to overcome anything that came my way.
Outside of triathlon, I work as a prosthetist, fitting other amputees with artificial limbs, and I love it. I am also active in various non-profit organizations, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I do some motivational speaking and try to stay involved with recent amputees coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have been married almost seven years and have a black lab named Jake.
Something the triathlon world doesn’t know about me is that I was the first wounded female from the war in Iraq.
Athlete Language: English
Athlete Education: Bachelor\'s degree in Communications from the University of Colorado in Boulder. A certificate in prosthetics from Century College in Minnesota, and soon to be a certified prosthetist.
Athlete Proudest Moment: Outside triathlon, making the 2008 Paralympic swim team and carrying the American flag into closing ceremonies at the Paralympics. Inside triathlon, winning my division at the 2009 Chicago triathlon.
Athlete Coach: Mike Durner, CTS