Council Bluffs native brings home 2nd Paralympic gold medal for Team USA

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The 2020 Paralympics came to a close this week but athletes around the world will be celebrating their victories for a lifetime. Including a Council Bluffs native, who competed in his fourth Paralympic Games and brought home his second gold medal.

Josh Turek has been playing wheelchair basketball since he was a child and says he knew immediately that winning a Paralympic gold medal was his goal.

“My first day playing wheelchair basketball, my goal was not wanting to play in Italy, play professionally, not to want to make money doing it, it was always, ‘I want to wear a USA uniform, I want to play in the Paralympics and represent my country and I want to try to win a gold medal for the USA,’” Turek says.

Turek played for the Nebraska Red Dawgs, the youth wheelchair basketball team, before playing at Southwest Minnesota State University, where he was an All-American.

Turek then played overseas in Spain and Italy for professional teams for a number of years, before making Team USA for the first time in 2002.

His first Paralympic appearance was in 2004 in Athens, where Team USA placed seventh. After that, things were far from easy.

“Part of the beauty and the beast of playing for USA I always say, is that the beauty is you’ll be on an amazing team with amazing athletes and you’ll have a really good chance to win a medal, the beast is there’s so many good players that there’s no guarantee you’re going to make this any given year, and so after I made my first Paralympic team in 2004, I didn’t make the team until 2011.”

The gold medal was calling Turek’s name, and he didn’t give up. He made the team again in 2011 and competed in the London 2012 games, where Team USA won the bronze.

In Rio 2016, Turek and the team won their first gold medal in 28 years.

“Part of you wants to laugh and smile, and part of you wants to cry,” Turek says. “You think of all the people who have helped you along the way, and yeah it’s an amazing feeling honestly.”

The Tokyo 2020 win made Turek and back-to-back gold medalist.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be there, particularly in a team sport, along with all your brothers that have been there and you know how much work you’ve put in to get there, it’s a beautiful thing, I mean, it just happened two days ago again to see the flag raised up high and the star-spangled banner is played, it’s like the culmination of an athlete’s career.”

The 2020 Paralympics were Turek’s last. A feeling that he says is bittersweet.

“In one way it is very, very sad to dedicate so many thousands and thousands of hours to really perfect a craft and then at one point while you’re still perfectly healthy and able-bodied to just say ‘OK I’m done with that, that part of my life is over,’ but it’s also a beautiful way to finish, I can’t think of a better way to finish than with USA across my chest, gold medal around my neck, it’s the perfect ending.”

Each Paralympic game holds different and special memories, Turek says. But the journey to Tokyo was by far the most taxing.

Athletes couldn’t have family and fans in the stands to celebrate with them and they couldn’t experience the city in the same ways they had in the past, all due to COVID-19.

For so long, Turek was training for the games on his own, pushing himself to and from the Council Bluffs YMCA, shooting baskets alone for hours, all while finishing his Master’s program and working a full-time job.

But the differences that came with Tokyo 2020 don’t take away from the indescribable feeling of accomplishing the job they set out to do, he says.

“That was the great thing about this team. We all had our moments individually, collectively, we all stepped up and ultimately we got it done and that was the whole goal from day one and when you end up winning, all of it, all the hard work, sacrifice, the pain the suffering, it’s all worthwhile.”

“When I think about this medal, honestly, I think I will think about the struggle to get there and the extra year and everything we went through, because it was difficult, and it was my last game to play.”

Turek says he couldn’t be more proud of his accomplishments and career, but he doesn’t want basketball to be his only definition. He tells 6 News he’s excited for what’s to come in this next chapter.

He plans to continue his full-time career with Numotion, a provider of mobility devices, like the wheelchair he uses himself.

Turek has also tossed around the possibility of running for local office. After living and working in so many other countries, he says he feels his experiences could help cultivate real, positive change in our local communities, especially when it comes to education and healthcare.

For now, however, Turek has a chance to relax, spend time with his family in Council Bluffs, and think about starting a family of his own with his wife. All while cherishing the lifelong memories he’s made.

“In total truth, it’s far more than I ever expected or deserved, so yeah, I feel truly truly proud and satisfied.”

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