Paris 2024: Meet the Paralympic athletes making waves in Bermuda

Representing Bermuda, Jessica Cooper Lewis still remembers how surprised she was when she entered the Para athletics stadium at London 2012, her first Paralympic Games.   

“I was in the stadium, and I think there were 80,000 people there, which is more than the population of Bermuda as a whole. It was just insane to know that my whole country could fit in the stadium, plus some,” Lewis said. 

“For me, that was like, ‘Wow’. That was such an amazing feeling and definitely a lot of goose bumps. You could just hear the roar of the crowd, even when you were outside the stadium.” 

In London, Lewis was the only athlete competing for Bermuda, an archipelago of 181 islands with a population of about 64,000. But at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, there are two  – Lewis and her long-time friend and boccia athlete Yushae Andrade. 

“We had a 100 per cent increase on our team, so it’s great,” Lewis, who is competing at her fourth Games, said with a laugh. 

Making waves in Bermuda 

Bermuda made its Paralympic debut at Atlanta 1996 and is seeking its first medal on the biggest stage. Andrade, who competed in Paris with pink and blue braids – the colours of Bermuda, was making her second appearance after Rio 2016.  

“It has just been awesome, especially to share this moment with Jess again,” Andrade said. 

Lewis, 31, and Andrade, 30, have known each other since they were around five years old. They met at an organisation that offers programmes for people with disabilities, and they both fell in love with sport. 

They started by riding horses, then they took up wheelchair basketball. But after that, they went on separate ways, with Lewis finding her passion in wheelchair racing and Andrade starting boccia. 

“I loved the speed. I love to go fast,” said Lewis, who currently lives and trains in Canada.

“In Bermuda because we didn’t have a lot of Para athletes at the time - hopefully that will change in the future - I had to pick a sport that was an individual one.” 

“My first love was actually basketball, but I wanted to represent Bermuda.” 

Andrade was looking for a sport to ensure she would not develop blood clots after spinal correction surgery. She took up boccia after she watched Canadia’s Josh Vander Vies playing without legs or hands. 

“He was throwing balls, and I was like, ‘How do you do that?’ I was interested. And he saw me throwing, and he told me I have a talent for this,” Andrade said. “I enjoyed the technical side of it, like you have to put strategy into it in order to play the game correctly.” 

Support crew 

At South Paris Arena, Andrade faced home favourite Aurelie Aubert in the women’s individual BC1 semi-final on 1 September. While the crowd was chanting Aubert’s name, Andrade also had a pack of supporters – it was her family and Lewis’ family. They were all wearing pink T-shirts and watched every throw she made on the court. 

Andrade lost in a tie-break and eventually finished fourth in the tournament – the closest any athlete from Bermuda has been to the Paralympic podium so far.  

“The semi-final game was just crazy and spectacular to me. I fought until the end and it was just one of the biggest moments for me and I’m really happy and excited about that,” Andrade said.  

Lewis was training at the time of Andrade’s match, but her mom Lorri was sending her updates.  

“I’m so proud of you for keeping at it and to be here together is absolutely amazing and very, very proud of her and the competition that she had here,” Lewis said. “She showed a lot of poise and a competitive drive right until the end. It was awesome.” 

Being the first 

Lewis is the first Para athletics athlete and Andrade is the first boccia player to represent Bermuda at the Paralympic Games. Andrade says people approach her on the streets at home, often asking her about the sport or what it feels like to be the first Paralympian. 

“When I’m home people come up to me and they’ll be like, ‘What’s boccia?’ and I’ll have to explain it to them more, because a lot of people don’t really understand what it is. Now I’m finding myself just explaining it more and having more conversations and getting people to open their eyes to what boccia really is.” 

“It feels surreal to me, I guess just because this is normal to me – just playing the game. I don’t see anything else around it. But people tell me all the time, ‘You know, you’re the first Bermudan boccia player who has made it to the Paralympics.’ Then I think about it, and I’m like, oh yeah.” 

She trains with two other boccia players at a local high school. They often ask her to share her experience about competing in major competitions and how to stay focused during matches, keep cool and do not get intimidated by a big crowd. 

By competing at Paris 2024, Andrade is confident that there will be a hero’s welcome waiting for her when she returns home, while she hopes that her experience in Paris will help Para sport’s development in Bermuda. 

“I feel it’s going to grow more because I’m in the spotlight more. I’ve done well here, so I feel like it’s just going to grow,” she said.