After 25 years coaching the United States\u2019 most successful Paralympic sailing team of all time, it was an \u201cironic\u201d turn of events for Hall-of-Fame racer Betsy Alison as she herself became a para athlete in the final months of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year dominated an array of different sailboat classes throughout her professional career, but it wasn\u2019t until August 2023 that she found herself back on top of the World Championships<\/a> \u2014 this time, with a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November of 2022, a team of surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital removed a cancerous tumor the size of a football from Alison\u2019s hip, subsequently removing 90% of her glute muscles, part of her femur, half of her pelvis and reconfiguring much of her hip and upper leg muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had no idea whether I was going to come out with a leg,\u201d she told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview following her podium performance at Worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Preparing to enter the operating room, she recalled the doctors saying, \u201cLook, we\u2019re going to save as much as we can, but we can\u2019t tell you the extent of what\u2019s going to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nine months later, Alison was standing on top of the podium in the Netherlands at the 2023 Sailing World Championships with a gold medal around her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n