After Two Decades And Four Paralympics, Cheri Madsen Exits The Sport With Nothing Left To Prove

One of the biggest changes to Cheri Madsen’s post-competitive life will come at the dinner table.

Over a long and decorated career as a wheelchair racer, Madsen needed to eat “clean.” That meant one meal for her husband and two daughters, and a different, more nutritious option for mom, the four-time U.S. Paralympian.

Sneaking in the occasional cheat meal won’t be so much a concern now, however, after the 47-year-old Madsen announced her retirement from competitive racing. If the family is treating itself to something fried, that means the whole family.

“I can eat what my family eats,” Madsen said. “For years, I’ve always separated our meals.”

Though Madsen is eager to treat herself from time to time at the dinner table, the 10-time Paralympic medalist will not abandon all the athletic aspects of her life she has known for the past 30 years.

Paralyzed by an unknown virus at age 3, Madsen (nee Becerra) began racing in 1994 and went on to become one of Team USA’s most decorated Para track athletes in a career that included two stints over four separate decades.

Madsen’s breakthrough came at age 19 at the Paralympic Games Atlanta 1996, where she won a pair of silver and bronze medals in various T53 races. That performance came just a few weeks after the Nebraska City, Nebraska, native and enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe took part in an 800-meter exhibition race during the Atlanta Olympics, finishing third.

Four years later at the Sydney Paralympics, Madsen upgraded to gold in the 100 and 400 T54 races, while adding a silver medal in the 200, and with that she retired. The following summer she married Eric Madsen, and a budding family became her focus.

However, shortly after giving birth to her second daughter in 2006, Madsen began to consider a return to competitive sports. That change of heart stemmed largely from a persuasive 2007 talk with her younger brother, Mario Becerra III, during which they recalled fond childhood memories of their mother’s energizing influence. Mario said he wanted the same for his nieces, Reese and Malayna.

The following December, Mario III died along with their father, Mario Sr., when a train struck their car. His advice lingered tighter, and by 2013 Madsen was racing in her first world championships, where she won a pair of bronze medals.

When she rolled up to the starting line at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016, she was weeks away from 40. Yet with enhanced equipment and support systems compared to what she had earlier in her career, Madsen raced to faster finishes than she had in her teens and 20s.

Besting her gold-medal time from Sydney by 0.79 seconds, she secured silver in the 400. Five years later she shaved more time and repeated as 400-meter runner-up at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, where she also nabbed a bronze in the 100.

By then, Malayna was a freshman at Nebraska City High School while Reese had enrolled at nearby Southeast Community College. Though they couldn’t attend the Tokyo Games in person due to pandemic restrictions, both got to witness what Mom could do and what they could emulate. It was the realization of what Mario III had envisioned so many years earlier. 

“This is exactly like what he was talking about,” Madsen said. “This was something he really wanted my girls to experience. So I’m really proud of what I’ve done, and I know he’s proud of me too.”

Madsen’s influence extends well beyond her bloodline. For National Girls and Women in Sport Day in February 2023, the Team USA website asked athletes to pen letters to their idols. Hannah Dederick was one of those athletes, and the T54 racer wrote glowingly about the impact the “speed demon” Madsen has had on her career.

“You have always been a faster and more experienced competitor than me,” Dederick’s note continued, “but you always told me that I had fast starts and would catch up to you in no time.”

Racing neck and neck with her mentor in Tokyo, Dederick finished fourth in the 100, just 0.03 seconds behind the bronze-winning Madsen, who clocked in a personal-best time of 16.33.

“Competing alongside you at the Tokyo Paralympic Games was truly a moment I will forever cherish,” Dederick later wrote. “You’re so incredible, resilient, hilarious, kind and a role model.”

A year later, the mentor still marvels at the protégé’s assessment.

“Very surprised that she would even mention me,” Madsen said. “But it does make sense because I do really care for Hannah and want her to do well.”

Nine months after her letter, Dederick secured three golds, a silver and a bronze at the 2023 Parapan American Games. Though Madsen had to scrap any plans of competing in 2023 amid persistent swelling and blood clotting from a December 2022 leg injury, watching Dederick burgeon from afar eased some of the pain.

Those injuries, meanwhile, were giving Madsen a clear sign.

“My body said it was time to slow down,” she said.

Madsen is still deciding how she will stay engaged in wheelchair racing.

“I don’t want to disappear from the sport completely,” she said.

While contemplating local marathons and 10Ks, she continues to embrace the mentoring bug. Besides being a role model to Dederick, Madsen has savored the rewards of her leadership at home, where a practice-like-you-play mentality rubbed off on her daughters.

“Reese was a (softball) catcher, and has just amazing moves, the way she would control the field,” Madsen said.

In Malayna, Madsen witnessed a tireless work ethic as her daughter defied frigid and scorching temperatures when training for cross country.

“Her grit just kept pushing through,” Madsen said.

All the more fitting, then, that Madsen capped her Paralympic career by withstanding rain in the 400 final. She credits that to coach Saul Mendoza’s merciless, authentic simulations of every scenario while training in Texas.

“He was prepared for anything,” she said. “We would train in the rain whenever we had the opportunity.”

And so, while Tokyo’s skies drizzled on her, Madsen smiled upon clocking in at 53.91 seconds — 1.38 better than her golden time in Sydney — to earn a silver medal, her 10th and last at the Paralympics.

“I was just really thankful that I was able to come back to racing and have such a competitive career this time around too,” she said.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial.