Tracy Otto was about to start eating lunch when she received the exciting news that she had been chosen to compete in the Paralympic Games. She wasn’t prepared for the announcement, which turned an otherwise unremarkable moment into one that made her proud and excited.
Otto stated; “They gave Ricky [Riessle], my boyfriend, this box with a hat in it, saying you’re qualified.”
She further said, “When he presented it to me, I was eating, I had food in my mouth. So I was eating and crying, and there were cameras everywhere.”
Otto has been chosen to compete for the United States in two important archery events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Besides competing in the mixed team division with her partner, Jason Tabansky, she will also be vying for first place in the W1 open individuals competition qualification rounds.
Otto’s ex-boyfriend mercilessly attacked her at home in October 2019, causing such horrific anguish that she was on the verge of passing away. The intensity of her experience indicates the danger she faced; thus, her story is not exaggerated.
Otto, who lost her left eye and is now paralyzed from the chest down with restricted use of her hands and limbs, is bravely sharing the terrifying night that altered her life.
Even though she can’t sweat or control her body temperature, she delivers frank and inspiring words to women who have experienced abuse at the hands of lovers or former partners. She wants to use her experience to show people that they are not alone in their challenges and to serve as a beacon of hope.
‘He threatens to kill us.’
Otto broke up with her partner in September 2019 after he was arrested a month earlier for beating her at their Riverview, Florida, home. Otto was eager to move on, ready to let the past go and welcome a new chapter in her life. She had already met someone new — her current boyfriend, Ricky [Riessle].
Her ex took his revenge by attacking her and beating her mercilessly.
She said: “My ex and I had split up, I’d put him out, told him to go, he packed up everything he owned, and I’d changed all the locks on my house. Everything was completed.
“On October 24, 2019, that evening, we went on a brief date before retiring to bed. I can still picture myself turning over, settling in, and falling asleep. And then, all of a sudden, I saw a flashlight in my face and heard this roar, which confused me.
“I realized it was my ex when I heard his voice after that.
“He’d pulled up to my house, parked, and then walked around the back to peer through the window of my bedroom. He’d decided to go buy a powerful pellet pistol while we were sleeping. In an attempt to resemble a real rifle as much as possible, he made every effort. a pair of handcuffs, a knife, etc.
“And he returns to my home, breaking in and getting us out of bed while yelling at us to do so.
“So, he outright told us what he was going to do. This is where everything gets kind of blurry because it happened so quickly. I can tell you what I know happened, I just don’t have it firsthand because my brain just kind of blocked everything out”
Otto was viciously attacked by the assailant, who first struck her with several blows to the face before turning to knife Riessle in the back, causing his lung to collapse. Otto was left paraplegic when the attacker stabbed her in the back of the neck after shooting her through the left eye. As the attacker started abusing her sexually, the violence intensified even worse.
‘My life is so much more vibrant and loving now.’
Otto, the only female American archer in her Paralympic class, has made an incredible journey across the nation by participating in qualifying competitions. She had to get a minimum score—520 points from 72 arrows out of a potential 720—to guarantee her position in Paris, and she accomplished that objective last summer.
A strenuous three-part series culminating in a victorious homecoming in Florida, complete with a surprise lunch, confirmed her passage to Paris. Otto is frank about her experiences and the difficulties she encounters daily, but she never lets the man who wants to take everything from her stop her from being a strong, independent woman.