PARIS – The United States women’s goalball team failed to qualify for the Paralympics for the first time since 1984. But two-time Paralympic medalist Eliana Mason is still in Paris.

This time, Mason is sitting in the stands supporting her fiancé, Calahan Young, the captain of the United States’ men’s team.

“She’s putting on her best face, trying to keep it together,” Young said. “Because she wishes that more than anything, she could be down here competing, too.”

Goalball is for athletes with visual impairments. Athletes must wear blackout eyeshades to level the playing field across different ranges of vision. Bells inside the ball enables players to hear it and anticipate its movement.

Mason medaled in the Rio 2016 games (bronze) and Tokyo in 2021 (silver).

On Friday, as Mason entered the Paris La Defense arena to watch Young and the men’s team compete in its first match, she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“I wanted to start crying because I’m like, ‘this is the arena,’” Mason said. “It’s happening, and I’m not competing.”

Mason said her work as a mental health counselor has assisted her during this experience. She often tells clients that it is okay to hold space for two separate emotions, and emphasizes the importance of using words like “and” instead of “but.”

“Like, it’s really hard for me, ‘and’ I am so happy and proud of Calahan,” said Mason.

Mason and Young first met while competing at a goalball tournament in 2013 when they were 17 years old. They started dating four years later after they both moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana to what was then the high-performance center for the United States’ goalball teams.

At this year’s games, Mason is taking her new role as a fan very seriously. In goalball, spectators are not allowed to cheer or make noise during gameplay. As a player herself, she knows when to cheer.

“I told her that, whenever it was quiet, to get one last yell in, so I knew where she was,” Young said on Saturday after a 5-4 win against France. The U.S. captain added that he is 90% sure he is pointing at her whenever he scores a point.

The United States women have competed in every Paralympic Games since a women’s category was added 40 years ago, and they boast six medals. This year, qualification was more difficult because organizers cut the number of teams that could qualify from 10 to eight.

The U.S. women had three chances to qualify across three tournaments, and in each competition, they lost by slim margins. After defeat by one point in the gold medal match against Canada at the 2023 Parapan American Games, the U.S. lost its final chance for the Paralympics.

“I just remember feeling heartbroken walking off the court and thinking, ’we’re not going to Paris,” Mason said.

As the next four-year Paralympic cycle begins, Mason and her teammates have one thing in mind.

“We want to be in L.A., and our goal is to win that gold medal,” Mason said, referencing the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. “I say that I have a bronze, I have a sliver, I have a not going. So next step is gold.”

At this year’s Paralympics, the men’s team is also in the hunt for hardware. The last time they stood on the podium was at Rio 2016, winning silver. Young and his teammates have their last match of group play on Sunday against Iran.

Sunday is also Mason’s birthday. The Paralympic couple planned dinner with their family the night before the match to celebrate early. The next day, she will be back in the stands to watch the U.S. men compete.

“She’s the most supportive fiancée you could ever ask for, and she’s here cheering us on,” Young said.

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Gabriella Etienne is a student in the undergraduate certificate program in the Carmical Sports Media Institute at the University of Georgia.

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AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games