Noah Malone was about to start eighth grade when he noticed something weird at a track meet. The scoreboard was fuzzy. OK, his parents thought, he probably just needs glasses, so they took him to an optometrist on the first day of school.
Glasses weren’t going to fix this.
By the end of the week, Malone saw a specialist who diagnosed him with Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, a rare genetic disease that leads to central vision loss. He lost vision in one eye within a month, and the other followed by January.
Malone’s parents, Kyle and LaTasha, encouraged him to find something that motivates him. Turns out, it wasn’t anything new. It was the thing he’d been doing since fourth grade: track and field.
It would be disrespectful to Malone to say he’s a fast sprinter, with the asterisk that he’s lost nearly all of his vision. Malone is fast, period — fast enough to qualify for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, where he’ll compete in the 100-meter and 400-meter races.
“I still had stuff to achieve and places to go,” Malone said over Zoom.
His first race in the 100 is at 9 p.m. ET Aug. 26. The semifinals are at 11 p.m. ET Aug. 27, and the finals are at 8 a.m. ET Aug. 28. His first race in the 400 is at 8 a.m. ET Aug. 31, and the finals are at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 1.
Malone competes in the T12 division, which is for athletes with a visual field of less than 10 degrees diameter.
Back when Malone was about to start high school, he was adamant about running track at Hamilton Southeastern High School. The family met with the Indiana High School Athletic Association, where officials said there wasn’t a precedent, and they worked together on a plan that allowed Malone to run track at HSE while also enrolled part-time at Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
He promptly broke two records as a freshman at HSE in the 100 and 200. By his senior year, he finished fourth at the state meet in the 100 and 200.
“The nervousness went away,” his father, Kyle, said. “For Noah, he was like, ‘OK, I can compete.’”
Malone is about to be a sophomore at Indiana State University, where he runs the 100 and 200, along with the 4-x-100 meter relay.
A world apart
Malone got to Tokyo on Aug. 11, but he’s there without his parents and other family because of the pandemic. He said he still keeps in touch with family and friends, sending them updates and pictures.
That doesn’t mean there’s a lot of leisure time, though. He and everyone else from Team USA are there to win medals.
“We’re here to compete,” Malone said. “That’s the No. 1 goal. You have to put athletics over just enjoying the scenery and all that type of stuff. That comes first. Then you can actually enjoy everything else.”
Back home, it’s difficult to be so far away. Kyle and LaTasha will fly to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee is headquartered, for a watch party. But nothing can beat actually being there in person.
“There’s nothing like being in the stands and hearing the gun go off and being able to yell and cheer,” LaTasha said.
Sharing lessons and experiences
Malone has a soon-to-be-released memoir titled “Losing Vision, Not Dreams: Reflections on My Teenage Years,” where he hopes to share the lessons and experiences he’s had. The book is available for pre-order on his website.
Track and field gave Malone confidence and motivation during a time when he didn’t see many avenues for help or people to talk to.
Plus, writing was therapeutic for Malone.
“It’s always a great way of releasing stress and different types of thoughts and emotions when you write down everything,” he said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
