World Wheelchair Rugby

Tokyo 2020 countdown get to know… Chuck Aoki, USA

Paralympic Experience

  • Two-time Paralympian (2012, 2016); Two-time medalist (1 bronze, 1 silver)
  • London 2012 Paralympic Games, bronze
  • Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, silver

World Championship Experience

  • Most recent: 2018 – bronze
  • Years of participation: 2010, 2014, 2018
  • Medals: 3 (1 gold, 2 bronze)
  • Gold – 2010; Bronze – 2014, 2018

Bio:

Chuck Aoki is a PhD student at the University of Denver, vice chair of the USOPC Athletes Advisory Council (AAC), and a speaker and advocate on disability issues.  He first found para sport when he was seven, while playing wheelchair basketball at basketball camp at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Three years after making the national team, Aoki led the U.S. to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Paralympics. Two years later, he was named the tournament’s best player at the 2014 World Championships. In 2016, he helped the U.S. to win a silver medal at the Rio Paralympics.

Before heading to Tokyo for the 2020 Paralympic Games, Chuck shared his top five workout/pregame songs, and a few books he plans to read between competing.

Top 5 Workout Songs

  • Remember the Name, Fort Minor
  • Till’ I Collapse, Eminem
  • Backseat Freestyle, Kendrick Lamar
  • Power, by Kanye West
  • I’m Shipping up to Boston, Dropkick Murphys

Tokyo Reading List

  • Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore
  • An Army at Dawn and The Day of the Battle, Rick Atkinson
  • John Quincy Adams, Paul C. Nagel
  • The Alloy of Law, Brandon Sanderson
  • Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn

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