That September, barely four months after the attack, she asked her former coach, James Barone, if he’d join her again.
Ali ended up taking home a silver medal from the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Orlando last December, then won three events en route to qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics at the U.S. Trials in June.
She is categorized as S10, which is for swimmers with minimal weakness affecting their legs, missing feet, a missing leg below the knee or hip problems.
“If at any point in time she had texted me or called me and said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to curl up in a ball today, and I’m going to cry,'” James, who came out of retirement to coach Ali, said on TODAY, “everyone in the world would be like, ‘That checks out. You take the day, you do whatever.'” But in her case, he added, “Not once. She has never once missed a day of practice.”
