Paying It Forward: Ali Truwit Champions Team USA Paralympic Swimming

Stronger Than You Think

That imaginative and prescient led to the creation of the Stronger Than You Think Performance Incentive Fund.

Through her Stronger Than You Think Foundation, Truwit made a present of $500,000 to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) to launch the fund, which is able to present monetary awards to U.S. Paralympic swimmers who place first via third or set world data at designated competitions main as much as the Paralympic Games Los Angeles 2028.

“When I look at Olympic swimming and see the checks the swimmers get to hold when they win events at various world competitions, I want that for Para athletes too,” Truwit mentioned.

“Providing financial rewards to U.S. Paralympic athletes adds legitimacy, and drives support and excitement around athletes, helping to drive awareness and momentum for the overall Paralympic Movement, too.”

For Truwit, the objective goes past placing a examine in athletes’ fingers. It’s about celebrating Paralympic athletes for the elite rivals they’re and serving to extra folks acknowledge their performances on the world stage.

Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

The Stronger Than You Think Performance Incentive Fund debuts Aug. 28-30 on the 2026 Para Pan Pacific Championships, held in Walnut, California. Eligible U.S. swimmers competing in LA 2028 medal occasions will obtain $3,472 for first place, $2,083 for second place and $1,389 for third place, with a $10,000 award for breaking a world document.

For Truwit, seeing the primary awards distributed made the thought she had labored towards for greater than a 12 months tangible.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting to get here, to see our athletes receive it and know what it’s going to help them do,” she mentioned. “It’s been really cool to see their response and their excitement.”

The checks themselves carry significance past their financial worth.

“I hope (U.S. Paralympic Swimmers) feel the respect and the awe that we all have when we watch,” she mentioned. “It’s a continuous work to try to gain the legitimacy and the respect around the movement. And I hope this adds to that.”

She additionally hopes the awards present some aid from the monetary strain that comes with competing on the highest stage.

“It’s definitely a financial burden to be a professional athlete and to have to afford training and travel and equipment and then the medical costs that come with it,” Truwit mentioned. “And so I hope that side of it, too, allows them to focus on being the best athlete they can be just a little bit more.”

Additional awards will comply with at a to-be-named World Series meet in each the 2027 and 2028 seasons. These occasions function important qualification checkpoints as Paralympic swimmers goal to signify Team USA in 2028.

Looking towards LA 2028, Truwit hopes athletes will be capable to inform her that the fund made a significant distinction.

“I would love to get to LA28 and hear from other athletes the impact that this fund has had on their training, on their mental and physical stress, on their ability to pour more into their training and worry less,” she mentioned.

The alternative to help different athletes is deeply private.

“It means everything to be able to get to do this truly,” she mentioned. “I’m such a big believer in the power of sport. I think for me firsthand, I’ve experienced it and I believed it before that movement is medicine, that sport offers us so much hope and strength and possibility of who we could be.”

Now, she’s working to ensure different athletes have the chance to expertise that very same energy.

For extra details about the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation and Truwit’s Stronger Than You Think Foundation, go to teamusa.com/foundation and strongerthanyouthink.org.