Oswego Paralympian Says His Determination and Fellow Cyclists Kept Him Motivated

Paralympic cyclist Joe Berenyi won three medals in the London Paralympic Games.

Upon arriving home Monday afternoon, the Oswego resident said the experience still feels surreal. “It might never sink in,” he said.

Berenyi was surprised with a of friends and family at the Oswego Home Depot, along with a caravan of fire trucks and police cruisers that escorted him through town. Berenyi made a stop at to celebrate with students and show his medals.

A construction accident in 1994 took Berenyi’s right arm and left kneecap, but that didn’t stop him from pursing his love of cycling and going on to win three medals at the Paralympics: gold in the individual 3km pursuit, silver in individual time trial and bronze in the mixed C1 to 5 team sprint.  

“He can do more than some can with two arms,” said Berenyi’s mother-in-law, Kay Kimes. “He can do anything.”

Even more impressive to Berenyi’s wins, is he did it all with a broken jaw. The cyclist explained that a week prior to the Paralympics he fell off his bike during training in Wales. Due to competition regulations, Berenyi had to get by on Ibuprofen and couldn’t get his jaw wired. A few months prior Berenyi broke some ribs in another training accident.

“My beard normally looks better than this,” laughed Berenyi, who said the doctor chopped it.

Now that the Paralympics are over, Beryni said it’s back to pretty much what he does every season: retraining. That consists of riding, building up base miles over the winter months, and conditioning.

Berenyni also mentioned offhand how he’ll be leaving for Washington, D.C. Thursday and meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday. “I figure I might as well,” Berenyi said with a chuckle. “I don’t even have to pay for the plane ticket.”

Despite being a local hero, Berenyi considers himself to be pretty “average Joe.” He told a story of when he walked out into the public area of the Paralympics wearing his warm-up jacket; people would yell “athlete!” and he’d take pictures with them. “I’m just an average guy though,” he said.

Still, his accomplishments make him above-average.

Bereyni was proud of his own personal times – he held the world-record for the 3km sprint for a little while – but said he was also very proud to be there for the USA. “It was pretty moving,” he said, of hearing the national anthem play when he received his gold medal.

Berenyi says his determination, along with the “good guys I’ve trained with” kept him motivated during training. He wasn’t able to see his family for most of the summer because of training, but that determination kept him going until he could be reunited with them after the Paralympics.  “It was good to have the there,” said Berenyi, as his children and wife, Jill, came to London to watch him compete.

London, Berenyi said, was very friendly. “The enthusiasm there… it was the people’s games.”

Looking to the future, Berenyi said he would like to make a repeat return to the Paralympic Games in 2016. But for now, Berenyni said “I’m glad to be home.”