TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay resident and Paralympian Tracy Otto is back at it.

She is practicing for the first time since competing in the Paris Paralympic Games in front of our cameras.

What You Need To Know

  •  Tampa Bay Paralympic Athlete Tracy Otto competed in the Paris 2024 Games

  •  She came back engaged to longtime partner and arrow agent Rick Riessle

  • They are expecting their first child in January as she heads back to training for the Los Angeles 2028 Games 

Spectrum News caught up with Tracy at Adventures Archery Tampa where she usually trains.

She told us about the time she had just a few weeks ago in Paris.

“Oh my gosh…how do you sum that up?” Tracy said. “It’s so hard to wrap it up into words other than magical. And so much fun and so many memories made.”

Her and fiancé Rick Riessle made a little news abroad as well.

“After she finished, we went to the Eiffel Tower, and I proposed,” said. Rick.

The moment captured by their cameras is pretty on target for this couple sharing more than their lives together.

“We’re having a little baby in January,” said Tracy. “And couldn’t be more excited. Life has taken just a crazy turn from five years ago to now.”

Five years ago while on their second date, tragedy struck. Otto's former boyfriend attacked them leaving Rick wounded. But Tracy’s injuries were worse. She lost an eye and would need a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

However, it also unleashed something else in her.

“Since that day, I vowed that I’m never going to give up,” she said.

Her mission started two years after the attack.

“I needed something that fulfilled a spot that I was missing. And it just popped into my head, and I turned to him and I’m like hey…why don’t we try archery?” she said. “And he’s like, but your hands don’t work. But that’s okay we’re going to figure it out.”

Sitting next to Tracy, Rick said it was never a doubt they will continue their lives together after the shared horrific experience.

“It honestly wasn’t very hard to make the decision to stay by her side,” he said. “I mean from the get-go she had a smile on her fact. She wasn’t going to let this determine her life.”

And soon after the idea of taking up archery came the determination to become an Olympic athlete.

“That it’s not what you can’t do, it’s what you can do and building from there and that really resonated with me because yes it’s true I have a lot of deficits but it’s not about that,” she said. “It’s about what you can do and moving forward with any kind of catastrophic life changing event regardless of what it is.”

Rick told us he is happy to be next to such a big inspiration to others.

“I mean for me; I don’t feel like I inspire people. I’m just raised by my mom. Be a good person be kind, it’s not that hard to do,” he said. “And when you get to do it next to the one you love, it just makes it that much easier that if we are inspiring other people, I feel like it’s a pretty good way to do it. She just wants to take over the world and be the light in this world that the world needs right now and it’s not hard to tag along.”

So, they are back at practice and aiming for Los Angeles.

“I’m really excited to see what this next chapter has for us and how we’re going to do it,” she said.

Rick said Tracy is one of the few paralympic athletes who needs an arrow agent, which is there alongside placing arrows and adjusting site tools.

“Yeah, the goal is to win gold in 2028,” he said.

It is a testament to this Olympian’s spirit which has no limits.