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Carlos Leon

 

Track & Field

Sport: Track and Field
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 180 lbs
DOB: November 1, 1984
Birthplace: North Lauderdale, Florida
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Personal Profile:
Leon has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of the world’s elite seated throwers.

After Carlos Leon was injured during military service in 2005, he met 5-time Paralympian Gabe Diaz de Leon at a Paralympic Military Sports Camp, who encouraged him to get involved in field events. Just a few months later he was already on the field competing. Leon broke the world record in the F52 discus at the 2007 U.S. Track & Field Nationals.

Leon set a new, unofficial world record in the discus at the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials - Track & Field at Arizona State University's Sun Angel Stadium on June 14, 2008.  Leon dominated the competition in the men's F52 discus with a new world record throw of 22.04m (previous 19.52m) and was nominated to the Paralympic Team which will represent the U.S. at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

At the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio, he came away with two medals and a slot on the 2007 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field Elite Team.

Leon is currently training full-time for the field events of shot put and discus, and recently moved to the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama to train as part of the U.S. Olympic Committee's VP3 program. He has also been playing wheelchair basketball as a member of the Miami Heat Wheels since 2006. He graduated from Coconut Creek High School in 2002. Leon enjoys sports, training and reading.

Major Achievements:

  • 2008:  world record (22.04m), discus – 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Track & Field, Tempe, Ariz.
  • 2007: Silver medal, discus; Bronze medal, shot put - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
  • 2007: Competed in Canadian Track and Field Championship, Windsor, Ontario 
  • 2007: Gold medal, World Record, discus – U.S. National Track and Field Championships, Marietta, Ga.

 

Veterans Paralympic Performance Program (VP3)
The VP3 is the newest part of the USOC Paralympic Military Programs, supporting talented, committed, severely injured veterans in their effort to represent the United States of America at a Paralympic Games. Through VP3, these veteran-athletes demonstrate to themselves and others the will and abilities that inspire others with physical disabilities and, indeed, all Americans. Lakeshore Foundation is supporting VP3 by providing two resident-athletes the opportunity to live and train here full-time as they prepare for the 2008 Paralympic Games. Both athletes, Carlos Leon and Scott Winkler, compete in the discus and shot put events.

Courtesy U.S. Paralympics