Paralympian. Pan American champion. Mom. Speaker. Still getting started.
As Tracy heads to Peru, let's take a quick look at her journey. Tracy Otto shot her first arrow on March 27, 2021. Three years later she was on the line in Paris as the only U.S. woman in the W1 class at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Along the way she won Pan American gold, was named World Archery Americas' 2024 Archer of the Year, and shortly afterwards, she became a mom. Now she's aiming at LA 2028, and she's starting to share what she's learned with audiences of her own.
Here's her story, in her words.
At a Glance
- Home: Plant City, Florida
- Shoots: W1 compound, with the recurve sight that Para compound archers are required to use
- On the line since: 2021
- Level: Competitive, Team USA
- Coach: Matt Hall
- Where it started: All People's Life Center, Tampa, with her first coach, Earl C. Brown
- Find her: tracyotto.com
How She Got Started
In October 2019, an attack at her home left Tracy half blind and paralyzed from the chest down.
About two years later, riding in the car with her partner Ricky Riessle, she was looking for something to do with her time. She searched online for adaptive sports near her, and archery was on the list.
Ricky wasn't sure her hands could do it. Her answer, as she told Archery 360: "OK, but, we'll figure it out."
March 2021: Tracy's first weeks with a bow. Image: @tracy_otto.
Her first shot at All People's Life Center in Tampa wasn't pretty. "I bit on the bite tab and I was kind of falling over in my chair," she told USA Archery.
Then the arrow hit the target. "I have to do this; I have to see this through."
Her first coach, Earl C. Brown, set the tone. "In that moment it wasn't about what I can't do but it was about what I can do," she said. "He just instilled that mindset into me from day one and it just stuck with me."
When her mentor, Doug Godfrey, told her the end game was the Paralympics and that the next Games were in 2024, she didn't hesitate. "Let's go."
How She Shoots
Tracy shoots a compound bow to draw back the arrow and string, with a traditional wrist release rigged to a camera shutter cable.
"There's a close pin apparatus that I bite down on that releases the arrow," she explained to the Associated Press in Paris.
She sets up her equipment by feel more than by spec sheet: "I just go with whatever is natural for me and what feels smooth and what feels comfortable."
For the past few years, she has been training with coach Matt Hall in Florida for her journey to Paris, and as she builds toward LA.
At full draw. Photo: USA Archery, courtesy of Tracy Otto.
The Moments She's Proudest Of
In 2023 she won individual W1 gold at the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, which earned the U.S. a quota slot for Paris. "Being on that podium is a moment that I'm going to hold dear in my heart," she said.
Santiago 2023 gold. Image: @tracy_otto.
In 2024 she added two more golds, individual and mixed team with Jason Tabansky, at the Para Pan American Championships.
At the U.S. trials in Gainesville in May 2024 she needed a 520 to make the team. She shot a 572. "We're going to the Paralympics!" she told FOX 13.
In Paris she finished eighth in the women's individual W1 and sixth in the mixed team. After the ranking round, she told the AP: "I never thought that my life would rise from the ashes as it has. To be on the world stage is such an amazing experience."
In her personal life, it would be the birth of her daughter.
The Hardest Part, and What Got Her Through
Her body still changes from day to day. "I'm only four years in, so my body is still kind of levelling out," she told Archery 360 in 2024. Nearly 7 years out now, and this is still the case.
Her spinal cord injury means she can't sweat or regulate her temperature, so heat on an outdoor range is a real danger.
She trains three to five days a week and doesn't push through bad days: "I want to make sure that I'm at my peak so that I'm making muscle memory to be at that peak all the time."
Competing is expensive too, she says, and that limits how much of the sport she can try.
What gets her through? The people around her, starting with Ricky, now her fiancé, her caregiver and her arrow agent. "He's been like my rock, my life, everything," she told World Archery.
And a piece of advice from fellow Paralympian Lia Coryell that she's kept ever since: keep going. "That's so true. You just have to keep going."
Then there's the bow itself. "Archery really saved my life," she said. "It gives me the feeling that I am free again."
Her Advice
Before your first arrow: Don't expect a standard checklist from Tracy. "I've never picked up a bow able-bodied either," she told Archery 360. "I just know what proper form is for me and what works for my body."
Her advice is what she did on her own first day: if someone says it won't work for you, figure out how it will. And have fun with it. "I'm always just having a really good time when I shoot my bow."
When you're ready to chase something bigger: "You've got to start with a dream," she says. And from Paris: "Your circumstances don't define you. You can do anything you set your heart out to do."
Tracy on stage, sharing her story. Photo: VUA Imaging.
Off the Line, On the Mic
Tracy is stepping into a new arena: motivational speaking.
She's still figuring out how to navigate all the challenges this life has, but she's eager to share what she's learned so far, about rebuilding a life, chasing a goal most people would call impossible, and finding joy on the way. If you've read this far, you already know she has plenty to say.
She's always wanted to be "that light in this world," as she told USA Archery. Schools, teams, clubs, conferences and survivor organizations can reach her about speaking at tracy@tracyotto.com.
Beyond the Line
Tracy is an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and for women in sport. The BBC named her to its 100 Women list for 2024, and she has been featured in People. She also worked with adidas on the Supernova Rise 3 Adaptive.
Ricky proposed under the Eiffel Tower during the Paris Games, and their daughter, Rylee, was born in January 2025. "Our hearts are so full," she told World Archery.
All Things Tracy, in One Place
Tracy's new home base is coming together at tracyotto.com: her story, her speaking, her schedule of competitions and appearances, news and media, and her shop, all in one spot. Bookmark it now and watch it grow on the road to LA.
Help Tracy get to LA28. Para archers pay much of their own way to train and compete. You can back her directly here: Help Tracy Get To LA28 (SpotFund). You can also pick up something from her shop.
Follow her journey:
- Instagram: @tracy_otto
- TikTok: @tracyotto
- YouTube: @tracyotto
- Threads: @tracy_otto
- Facebook: Tracy Otto
- LinkedIn: Tracy Otto
- Speaking and media: tracy@tracyotto.com
- Every link in one place: tracyotto.com/pages/links
What's Next
LA 2028. Her motto says it plainly: Forged. Not Finished.
Got a story of your own? Every archer, every level. Be our next Thwacker Spotlight: thwacklife.com/spotlight
Thwack Life Archery Addiction is a national culture-first community platform for U.S. target archers — recreational, competitive, and adaptive. No gatekeeping. No gear elitism. Just real archery.
References
Interviews and profiles
1. Archery 360. Paralympic Spotlight: Tracy Otto, Part 1. July 23, 2024.
2. Archery 360. Paralympic Spotlight: Tracy Otto, Part 2. July 30, 2024.
3. USA Archery. Tracy Otto, chasing her dreams through archery, is keen to be a light in the world. January 17, 2024.
4. Allie Corey, FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Plant City para archer qualifies for Paralympics after surviving brutal attack. July 15, 2024.
5. Jerome Pugmire, Associated Press (via WVTM 13). Five years after brutal attack severed her spine, Tracy Otto proudly calls herself a Paralympian. September 1, 2024.
6. Priyanka Sharma, World Archery. Tracy Otto's resilient journey to the Paralympics and motherhood. January 23, 2025.
Background
7. Tracy Otto. About Tracy and Find Tracy, tracyotto.com. Accessed October 16, 2026.
8. Wikipedia. Tracy Otto. Accessed October 16, 2026.
Full-draw photo by USA Archery. Speaking photo by VUA Imaging. Additional images courtesy of Tracy Otto (@tracy_otto), used with permission.
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