Rowing for Paralympic gold

One of her new crew members will be Andrew Johnson, who trains with Preuschl in the Boathouse District on the Oklahoma River. Both were selected to be members of the United States' adaptive four team with coxswain.

“I want to medal again,” said Preuschl, a native of Indianapolis. “I feel like I have to defend the medal I got last time.”

For Johnson, a native of Greenwich, Conn., it will be his first time in the Paralympics.

“I have been working for this a long time,” he said. “Getting to go to London feels pretty good.”

Johnson, 22, is blind. He was born with the rare disorder called Leber's congenital amaurosis.

“I can see a brightness and darkness of a room but no color or shape or shadows,” Johnson said.

Preuschl, 27, has Erbs Palsy of the brachial plexus, a nerve injury that happened at birth when the doctor delivering her pulled her from the birth canal. It compromises muscle function and Preuschl's ability to grasp, extend and reach with her left arm.

“My left arm is about four inches shorter than my right,” she said. “My elbow doesn't extend fully. My bicep stays in contraction. That's because the nerves are not properly functioning.”

Preuschl was introduced by rowing at age 14 by her aunt in Wisconsin and became hooked on it. When it was time to go to college, she only applied to universities with rowing programs.

She attended Purdue and rowed four years for the university crew. In her fifth year at Purdue, she was coaching the women's novice team when she was recruited for the U.S. National Paralympic team.

A Paralympic coach had read a story about Preuschl having Erbs Palsy.

“I didn't realize that I qualified to be a disabled athlete,” Preuschl said. “I never thought of myself as that.”