Steve Serio made his first Paralympic team in 2008 and became a gold medalist in 2016. In 13 years playing wheelchair basketball on the top international level, he’s never seen something of the magnitude that one of his sponsors, Toyota, is launching before Tokyo.
Toyota announced Monday what it calls a first-of-its-kind program: nearly $5 million in stipends and sponsorship opportunities to all U.S. Paralympic hopefuls for the Tokyo Games the open Aug. 24 and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
“There’s been a number of different ways sponsors have engaged in the Paralympic movement,” Serio said, “but it’s never had a direct impact the way that this will for the Paralympic athletes going to Tokyo and the athletes that are currently in the pipeline for future Paralympics.