Houston Native Andy Soule Aims For Paralympic Gold In PyeongChang

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA — An open-bed humvee carrying United States soldiers through a war zone triggered something that forever changed Andy Soule’s life.

While standing in the back of the humvee as it journeyed down a path in Afghanistan, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off, shattering both of Soule’s legs beneath his kneecaps. Soule remained conscious through the blast and the immediate aftermath.

“I remember every second of it,” Soule said during an exclusive Patch interview last week. “I know that’s a little unusual from what I hear. And the medics got to me really quick.”

Soule is a Houston-area native who’s made the move back into civilian world through athletics. The 1999 Pearland High graduate will compete in his third Paralympics in the biathlon and cross-country skiing starting this week at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games.

The journey from double leg amputation in a foreign country to competing at the highest level wasn’t an easy task. Just learning to walk on prosthetics would be tough enough for some folks. But for Soule, he was on skis less than a year after the blast in Afghanistan.

Fellow soldiers got to Soule quickly after the 82mm chained mortar shook the humvee. They tended to his injuries best they could until medics arrived. They placed him under a medically-induced coma and didn’t wake him up until he was at an Army hospital in Germany.

Soule said he underwent a pair of knee disarticulations to stabilize the wound. The blast in Afghanistan happened on May 21, 2005. Five days later, he was already back at the Brooke Army Medical Hospital in San Antonio, where he had even more amputation.

“In the U.S. they revised the amputation upwards. They took the last three inches of femur to provide good soft tissue coverage to close the wounds.”

They also worked on his forearm that took on shrapnel, and they also set a fracture to his hip.

One other soldier who was seated in the back of the humvee was more severely wounded with internal injuries, and Soule said that soldier eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Soule, who hadn’t been in the Army for one year prior to his injury, received the prestigious Purple Heart honor.

Soule’s daily rigors of rehab at Brooke Army included physical therapy twice a day for nearly nine months. During his first month as in-patient at the hospital, he was introduced to a slew of adaptive sports.There were sports like volleyball and hand cycling, and the first he tried was wheelchair fencing.

He wanted to participate in a sport to continue giving back to his country.

“I feel that I have a responsibility to live well because it could've been me,” Soule said, referring to his fellow soldier who died in the IED hit.

After trying various adaptive sports, Soule gave Nordic skiing a shot, and he clicked with the cross-country event.

“No one gets into skiing to do cross-country skiing,” he said. “It’s a hard sport the first time you try it.”

He kept at it and began traveling for adaptive skiing. He got the privilege of training with Team USA prior to the 2006 Turin Winter Games.

“I knew then I would pursue Paralympic sports,” Soule said.

Soule kept at it and he got good. Then he got really good.

He was fully discharged from the Army in October of 2006, and by the end of November he was in full training with the U.S. Disabled Ski Team. In January of 2007, he went to his first U.S. Nationals. Two months later, he competed in the World Cup finals on Vancouver Island in Canada.

He made his first world championships team in 2009, and then made it again in 2013, 2015 and 2017, where he’s won a total of seven medals — four silver and three bronze.

He’s also made three Paralympic teams. He won bronze in the biathlon 2.4km pursuit at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics. In the 2014 Sochi Games, he finished just off the medal podium by placing fourth in both the individual biathlon and biathlon sprint. He finished fifth in two other biathlon races and fifth in a cross-country event.

The biathlon for Paralympians differs from what Olympic viewers typically see. Whereas the shooters in the Olympic biathlon shoot a .22 caliber rifle at 50 meters, Paralympians use an air rifle at 10 meters. Paralympians don’t carry their weapons during the race, either.

Soule competed at the PyeongChang course last winter at a pre-Para event.

“It’s a good course for me,” he said. “It plays to a lot of my strengths.”

And despite participating in the last two Paralympic Games, this will be the first time the Houstonian will get to walk in the Opening Ceremony. He said in the last two — Vancouver and Sochi — his event was the day after Opening Ceremony, but a two-hour commute away. Soule said he looks forward to this week’s Opening Ceremony, since it’s right next door to the course in which he’ll compete.

As for the competition, Soule feels confident entering these Games.

“I feel really good, really strong and I’m skiing very well,” he said. “My fitness is right where it needs to be. I feel really confident about what I can do.”

Of course, every athlete has aspirations of making it to the medal podium. Soule hopes he has what it takes to make it there this year.

“I can’t say there won’t be disappointment,” Soule said. “I could have my most perfect race day, and my opponent could have a better day than me. I will be happy leaving knowing every race was a great race for me.”

Considering his journey from California to Pearland to Afghanistan and the subsequent blast, every day he can get on the ski should be a good day.

Soule will compete in his first event on Thursday morning, Korean time, which will be late Friday in Texas. The Opening Ceremony is Wednesday in South Korea.

Related Links:
U.S. Paralympic Page
Andy Soule's Team USA bio
Paralympic TV Coverage
Pasadena Native In Paralympic Curling

Photos courtesy of U.S. Paralympics