0
GOLD
3
SILVER
1
BRONZE
5'2"
35
Minneapolis, MN
Metro State University, B.A., University of Minnesota, M.A.
Classification: 3.0
Son of Jennifer Nelson and Andrew Aoki
Chuck Aoki was born in Minneapolis with hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy (HSAN), a rare genetic disorder that inhibits feeling in the hands and feet. After a broken femur at age six, an injury that went undiagnosed for six weeks because he didn't feel it, Aoki decided to pursue adaptive sports beginning with wheelchair basketball.
After watching the documentary, “Murderball," that chronicled the U.S. wheelchair rugby team's journey to the Paralympic Games Athens 2004, Aoki decided to try out for wheelchair rugby at age 15. Aoki said: “Wow, that looks like a lot of fun to get knocked around and beat up, so I showed up to a practice, got knocked around and beat up for two hours straight, and I fell in love with it instantly.”
Two years later, Aoki became the second-youngest player ever to make the U.S. team and became teammates with some of the players featured in "Murderball" documentary as they became world champions in 2010. Aoki made his Paralympic debut at the Paralympic Games London 2012 and nine years later was chosen as the Opening Ceremony flag bearer for Team USA at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. He became first U.S. wheelchair rugby player to compete in four Paralympics at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 and subsequently became the most decorated wheelchair rugby player in U.S. history when the U.S. won a third consecutive silver medal.
Aoki’s father's family is from Japan. His great-grandparents immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s, and his great-grandparents and grandparents were all placed in World War II internment camps in the United States. After his family was released, his grandfather went on to serve in the U.S. Army.
Off the court, Aoki is the head coach of wheelchair rugby team at University of Michigan where Michigan launched the second-ever collegiate wheelchair rugby program in the nation. Aoki noted his goal "is to have a lasting impact on the Paralympic sport world … I want my legacy to be one that was very successful, but also (as) an athlete who did whatever they could to amplify and lift up others.”
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When Joe Delagrave first rolled into a wheelchair rugby practice nearly two decades ago, he wasn't just learning a new sport. He was learning a new way to live.The Minnesota native had recently sustained a spinal cord injury and arrived without knowing...
Bryan Kirkland had always been an athlete. Growing up in Alabama, he was the kind of competitor who couldn’t stay away from a field or a court. Football, basketball, track — if there was a game, he played it. And if it were a contact sport, he thrived ...
PARIS – It wasn’t the fairy tale ending that they had envisioned.Team USA wheelchair rugby bowed to an opportunistic Japanese team in the gold medal contest, 48-41, on Monday night at the Champs-de-Mars Arena. Despite the painful defeat, the U.S. perfo...
PARIS – Double teamed and banged around by aggressive British opponents, Chuck Aoki remained poised, delivering a perfectly timed and well-executed pass downcourt to his streaking teammate Sarah Adam, who cruised home for a pivotal try. It was a dagger...
The 18-year-old helped the U.S. win gold at the 2023 Parapan American Games, which secured the team’s spot in Paris.
