American Steve Emt competes in Sunday’s mixed doubles match against Italy, which the U.S. won.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Anyone watching the Winter Paralympics has probably taken note of Steve Emt, who — along with Laura Dwyer — is representing Team USA in the Games’ first-ever mixed doubles event.
Their performance is one thing: The pair notched three dramatic, back-to-back wins in the round-robin tournament to reach the semifinals, marking the first time the U.S. has qualified for a medal round in wheelchair curling since the 2010 Paralympics.
After losing to Korea in the semifinals, Emt and Dwyer will face Latvia in the bronze medal match on Tuesday, in the hopes of winning the U.S. its first Paralympic medal in wheelchair curling.
But it’s their teamwork and attitude on ice that really set them apart. Emt, in particular, has charmed the internet, with his booming baritone delivering a steady stream of encouragement to his doubles partner and demands to the granite stones they’re sliding (“curl!” “sit!”).
“I have three older siblings. I was always on the basketball court getting beat up by them, so I had to assert myself on the court, around the kitchen table, everything,” he said when asked about his deep voice this week.
Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer have made sure to celebrate their wins, of which there have been many throughout this wheelchair curling mixed doubles round-robin tournament.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
While Emt, 56, is competing in a new event, he’s no stranger to the sport: The 10-time national champion and three-time Paralympian is the most decorated Paralympic curler in U.S. history.
But he didn’t know what curling was until he got recruited off the street just over a decade ago.
“He said, ‘Well, I train with the Paralympic rowing team here in the Cape. I saw you pushing up the hill back there. With your build, I could make you an Olympian in a year,'” Emt recalled, referring to his wheelchair. “And I heard ‘Olympics,’ I’m like: Let’s go. What the hell is curling?”
After their conversation, Emt drove home and did some research, confirming that curling was not related to weightlifting, as he originally suspected.
“I went back two weeks later and I threw my first stone, and it just bit me,” he said.
Before long, Emt was making the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Massachusetts to spend the weekend training with that stranger-turned-coach, Tony Colacchio. He made the U.S. wheelchair curling team in 2014 and competed at his first world championship in 2015. Emt made his Paralympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018, five years after that fateful encounter.
Emt, speaking to reporters in October, said the sport of curling has changed him as a person, mellowing him out. But the existence of the sport as a competitive outlet for athletes with disabilities changed his life.
Emt had been an all-star high school athlete, an Army West Point cadet and a UConn basketball walk-on before a drunk driving incident paralyzed him from the waist down at 25 years old.
“I’m a jock … I need to compete, and I didn’t have anything going on in my life,” Emt said. “Seventeen years after my crash, I had a hole, and then [Colacchio] came along and stalked me into the sport.”
By that point, Emt had spent years working as a middle school math teacher, a high school basketball coach, and a motivational speaker. The latter has been his full-time job for almost a decade, taking him to over 100 schools across the country each year. He tells those teenagers about the chance Colacchio took on him, encouraging them to “be a Tony.”
“Go sit with that kid at lunch that’s sitting alone … smile [at] somebody in a hallway, get your heads out of your phones, get your heads out of the sand,” he continued. “We’re all going through something … and a simple ‘hello’ or ‘good morning,’ it could change their day. “It has the potential to transform someone’s life.”
Since moving to Wisconsin and embracing the slower pace of Midwest life, Emt has found solace and success. He values the opportunities that curling has provided him and hopes to inspire others to persevere through challenges.
“I want people to know that there is always a way forward. Whether it’s through speaking engagements or competing in curling, there are countless paths to rediscover success,” he shared. “After being told I may never walk again, I understand the feeling of uncertainty. But I want to show others that there are endless possibilities waiting to be explored.”
As the oldest Paralympian on Team USA, Emt initially set his sights on competing in three Games. However, he now dreams of participating in the Salt Lake City Games in 2034, just two Games away.
“I’ll probably be 90 years old by then, still out there competing in the Paralympics,” he joked.
