Believing the Impossible: Illinois Wheelchair Athlete Hoda Elshorbagy Overcame the Odds
Division of Disability Resources & Educational Services
By JONATHAN KING
In her home in southern Egypt, Hoda Elshorbagy glanced at the TV, then turned to her father with clear-eyed conviction and said, “One day, I’m going to do that.”
Without missing a beat, he said, “Yes—you need to be one of them.”
Elshorbagy and her father were glued to the 2016 Paralympic Games that day in their rural village when they saw for the first time a sport that would become Hoda’s passion: Wheelchair racing.
Only eight years later, Elshorbagy—now a member of the Illinois wheelchair racing team—finished 10th in the women’s wheelchair division of the 128th Boston Marathon. The timing seemed improbable, but for those who know Elshorbagy and her determination, it was no surprise.
Elshorbagy’s journey from rural Egypt to central Illinois was an unlikely story, a path littered with numerous obstacles.
At eight months old, she was paralyzed due to a medical error. With her parents’ help, she endured 13 surgeries, enabling her a degree of mobility supported by crutches and braces. Elshorbagy then discovered adaptive sports and chose discus throwing and weightlifting. But wheelchair racing? She didn’t own a wheelchair and wheelchair racing was unfathomable in Egypt, where wheelchair accessibility is uncommon.
Without a wheelchair, team or coach, what was she to do?
Elshorbagy traveled to Cairo to meet with adaptive sport leaders but met resistance. Still, she was unbowed.
“When they told me ‘No, no, no,’ I heard ‘Yes, yes, yes,’” she said.
So, she ventured into the unknown and found someone to build a custom wheelchair, and she worked with a friend to fabricate custom gloves. She used YouTube to find videos of the Illinois wheelchair team and Coach Adam Bleakney. To understand Bleakney’s videos, though, she had to learn English. She dreamed that one day she would join the Illinois team to learn from Bleakney face to face. For seven years, she planned, prayed, persevered and practiced.
And then came her break.
She applied for and was awarded a grant by the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Elshorbagy traveled to the U.S. for one week at the invitation of CAF Coach Carlos Moleda. This experience further ignited the fire in her belly. Returning to Egypt, Elshorbagy began to contact anyone she could find on Facebook who might be able to help make a connection that would open a door to the prestigious Illinois wheelchair team.
“How can I get to Illinois and train with Coach Bleakney? That question fueled me,” she said. “Eventually, someone introduced me to Coach Marty Morse (DRES' first wheelchair track and field coach), and he became my online coach for the next year and a half.”
And then came the news. Coach Morse invited Elshorbagy to come to Illinois in April 2023. What was originally planned as an introductory visit to fit her for a racing chair turned into Bleakney encouraging her to enroll in Parkland College as a precursor to becoming a student at Illinois and then the Illinois wheelchair racing team.
Today, two years later, Elshorbagy is a kinesiology student in the College of Applied Health Sciences and the newest recipient of the Morse-Hedrick Scholarship, created by Illinois alumna and decorated Paralympian Jean Driscoll in honor of her coaches, Morse and Brad Hedrick.
“Hoda had a very difficult time pursuing her athletic goals, but she kept pushing forward, literally and figuratively. She has an incredibly strong spirit and her determination is beyond compare,” Driscoll said. “Hoda aligns with the spirit of this scholarship through her commitment to excellence, doing the work required to get stronger, trusting her coach and the training process, respecting everyone from teammates to race directors and organizers, and having a fire inside that drives her to be the best she can be. She is very deserving of this scholarship. Hoda has a promising future, and a vision that will undoubtedly touch many lives.”
The Morse-Hedrick scholarship provides financial assistance to undergraduate students with disabilities who participate in athletic programs through Disability Resources and Educational Services. The DRES program has been an incubator for the growth and success of students with disabilities since its inception in 1948. Morse and Hedrick, alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences, are internationally known for their dedication to coaching and mentoring athletes with disabilities, including numerous Paralympic champions.
“Words cannot describe how it feels to have this support,” said a glowing and grateful Elshorbagy. “I’m surrounded by the best athletes and coaches in this sport, and I have a home away from home at Illinois. I’m living a dream.”
In her brief career on the Illinois team, Hoda has finished third in the Illinois Half Marathon, 10th in the Boston Marathon, seventh in the Chicago Marathon, sixth in the New York City Marathon and will compete in her second Boston Marathon later this month.
But Elshorbagy’s dreams don’t stop there.
Upon the completion of a master’s degree in kinesiology, Elshorbagy has a vision to return to Egypt to help others who face similar challenges that have marked her journey. In her home country, the field of kinesiology is not available for those with disabilities. Elshorbagy wants to change that. Equipped with her kinesiology education from Illinois, she wants to educate and train others with disabilities in Egypt. As a wheelchair athlete, Elshorbagy aims to develop the sport of wheelchair racing and become Egypt’s first qualified wheelchair racing coach.
“Hoda will be successful at whatever she does. She is a woman with determination and vision,” Bleakney said. “Our wheelchair community at Illinois serves as an incubator for her continual growth in the sport. If all goes well, I’m confident we are going to be able to get Hoda onto the Egyptian national team for the 2025 or 2027 World Championships.”
For Elshorbagy, who once sat watching the Paralympic wheelchair racers on TV, the dream of being one of those Paralympians is suddenly within reach. The 2028 games in Los Angeles are on the horizon. Twelve years after that memorable day with her father, Elshorbagy is hopeful to be one of those athletes herself. This time, her father will watch, not on TV, but in person, seeing his daughter represent their country and bringing hope to others like her to do what some say was impossible.