On a sunny Friday afternoon, Jaleen Roberts was interacting with fans and her community outside the AMC Theater at Kent Station.
The local Paralympian was born with cerebral palsy because of a stroke at birth, and that condition impaired her muscle strength and coordination. Roberts grew up in Kent and has always wanted to give back to the community she grew up in.
“I am a community driven person, social media is cool… But I would much rather be with people face to face, having conversation. It is really cool to see all the familiar faces,” Roberts said.
The Kent-Meridian High School alum decided not to run for Eastern Washington University, but instead trained for the Olympic dream.
“My decision to move to Spokane was rooted in my first coach living there,” Roberts said.
Contrary to most college athletes, Roberts’ experience as an athlete is not like most who compete after their high school careers.
“Sport and college were pretty separate. I would drive to school from Spokane and then drive home and practice,” she said.
Roberts is readying to compete in her second Paralympics on Aug. 28 across the Atlantic in Paris.
Her first appearance on the world stage was in the delayed Tokyo 2020 games, which actually took place in 2021.
Prior to Roberts putting her spikes in the oval in Tokyo, she went through one of darkest times of her life. Her best friend tragically passed away to suicide just before Roberts competed at the Paralympic trials.
It hit Roberts hard, so much that her mental health was affected, and she even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. Ever since that date, mental health has been at the forefront of Roberts’ efforts on and off the track.
“With the culmination of what I dealt with on my own and my friend’s story, it is a way to almost heal and enter into the mental health advocacy field,” Roberts said.
She added that just the weight of those events from the last Olympic cycle not being there gives her a new perspective: “I am excited to go and not have so many life-altering events happen around me and have that impact my performance. The few track meets that I did do this year went really well.”
While competing in Tokyo, Roberts excelled. She took home a pair of silver medals in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. Running in front of zero fans was a strange phenomenon because in her first big race, Roberts ran in London in front of a packed house.
“My very first Paralympics competition was at the World Championships in London in 2017 and British fans are insane… There was a lot of nerves, but still super exciting,” Roberts said.
She thrives on the big stage and looks forward to everyone’s eyes on her: “I feed off of it and take a positive approach. Instead of letting the anxiety eat me up, I try to use it as an adrenaline pump.”
After dealing with the rigidity and structure that was in place in Tokyo, along with the empty stadiums, Roberts is ready to have a little more freedom and get the real Paralympics feeling.
“After our first team meeting, they told us if Tokyo was your first Paralympic games, come into the Paris games with the mindset that you’re going to your first one because it is so much different,” she said.
As the days get closer and closer, Roberts’ confidence is growing and she is using that experience from the 2020 Olympics to her advantage.
“There is a lot less pressure that I have felt… I was super excited to go to trials,” Roberts said.
This year has been a trial all on its own. Back in February, Roberts was sidelined with an ankle injury due to overuse. Since then, Roberts has been on a comeback, building toward this moment that she finds herself in.
“With the short amount of training that I have had compared to a traditional season, I am making really good improvement,” Roberts said.
Although she is running the 100-meter and 200-meter dash in Paris, her most anticipated event is the long jump, where she set a North American record back in 2021: “I am super excited for the long jump because I finally am jumping what I want to be jumping my whole career… Long jump is just my baby.”
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Jaleen Roberts is a Kent-Meridian High School grad who is competing in the Paralympics in August in Paris, France. Photo provided by Jaleen Roberts
Jaleen Roberts is a Kent-Meridian High School grad who is competing in the Paralympics in August in Paris, France. Photo provided by Jaleen Roberts
