Former Ridgewood Resident Named Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year

A former Ridgewood resident will be honored by the U.S. Olympic Committee Tuesday for a decade of international successes as a Paralympic cyclist and Nordic skier.

The committee announced that Monica Bascio, a 1987 graduate of Ridgewood High School, is receiving the award of Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year in a ceremony with Olympic gold-medalist runner Katie Ledecky, two-time Olympic skier Ted Ligety and Paramlympic Sportsman of the Year Raymond Martin.

According to her biography, Bascio suffered a spinal chord injury in a 1992 skiing accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Five years later, then living in Santa Cruz, California, her then boyfriend bought her a handcycle, and within a year began competing in races around the country.

That started a climb to become the No. 1 ranked handcyclist in the world, winning more than 30 races, including international events in Quebec, Italy and Norway.

The lack of a woman’s handcycling event during the 2004 Paralympics, and an injury prior to the Beijing events four years later, hampered her entrance on the Olympic stage until the 2010 Vancouver winter events, where she competed as a skier.

In London in 2012, she won two silver medals and continued this year with a perfect record in her individual races.

Now a Colorado resident, Bascio is retiring from the top levels of professional handcycling, but plans to continue skiing and competing on the local level, according to a report by NJ.com.

“It’s pretty special to be recognized,” Bascio told NJ.com. “I’ve been a para-athlete for 14 years between cycling and nordic skiing, so to have all those efforts recognized culminates a fantastic career.”