Alexi Salamone
Alexi Salamone got his introduction to the ice with the Skating Association for the Blind and Handicapped (S.A.B.A.H.) and soon after discovered hockey. Salamone first began skating while wearing his prosthetic legs. It wasn't until 2002 when Joe Howard, a member of the U.S. Paralympics Sled Hockey National Team, convinced Salamone to play sled hockey - without his prosthetic legs - that he really became hooked on the sport. In 2003, he qualified for the junior national team and shortly thereafter was named to the senior national team.
Since then, Salamone has consistently been one of the best sled hockey players in the world. He has been a part of the bronze medal-winning U.S. teams at sled hockey's last two major international competitions - the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, and the 2008 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships in Marlborough, Mass. At the world championships, Salamone led Team USA in scoring with 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists).
Salamone was born in Briansk, Ukraine 14 months after the world's worst nuclear disaster - the meltdown of a reactor in Chernobyl in the Ukraine. As a result, Salamone was born with deformed legs and consequently, had both of them amputated at the Children's Institute of Prosthetics in Moscow when he was only four years old. He was adopted by the Salamone family and moved to the United States when he was six.
Salamone says the most influential people in his life are his parents because they have taught him and his sister, "to give and one day you will receive" and because they supported his desire to play hockey by attending his tournaments.
Major Achievements:
- 2010: Gold medal – Paralympic Winter Games,
- 2010: Gold medal - 2010 Japan Para Ice Sledge Hockey Championships
- 2009: Paralympic Team of the Year
- 2009: Gold medal- World Championships, Ostrava, Czech Republic
- 2008: Bronze medal - IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships, Marlborough, Mass.
- 2006: Bronze medal - Paralympic Winter Games, Torino, Italy
- 2005: Named member of U.S. Paralympics Sled Hockey National Team
- 2004: Silver medal - IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
- 2003: Named member of U.S. Paralympics Sled Hockey National Team
