Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Africa

Mechelle Freeman

Track & Field

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  South Africa

A Maryland native, Mechelle Lewis Freeman is a graduate of the University of South Carolina where she obtained her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Mass Communications. She was a member of the 2002 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field team who brought the first National Championship in any sport to the university. Mechelle is a Track & Field 2007 Pan American Double Silver Medalist, 2007 World Champion, and 2008 Olympian. Her events included the 100 meters and the 4×100 meter relay. When off the track, Mechelle turns her focus to her career in brand and activation management for companies including, Coca Cola and Xerox and shares her Olympic journey through motivational speaking.

Founded in 2015, TrackGirlz ® LLC. was born after she realized how underutilized and unrecognized phenomenal world class track and field women and girls were considered. Since then, Mechelle realized the impact of TrackGirlz could be greater as a nonprofit and teamed up with Jennifer Nash Forrester to bring this new direction to life.

Dennis Ogbe

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Nigeria

Dennis is an elite shot-put and discus thrower who has competed in numerous competitions all over the world. His competitions include, but are not limited to, the Czech Opens, Toronto Opens, multiple World Championships, Pan-American Games and the prestigious London 2012 Paralympic Games. At the USA Track & Field National Championships Dennis has won over a dozen gold medals throughout the years. He holds the US National Record in shot-put and discus throws (class F58).

As a survivor of Polio, Dennis is actively engaged in the campaign to eradicate Polio. He is an ambassador for the United Nation’s Foundation Shot@Life, UNICEF, and Rotary International. His articles advocating for vaccinations have been published on the Huffington Post and CNN. Since 2013 Dennis has participated annually in World Polio Day events. Dennis was a presenter for Rotary International’s World Polio Day: Making History (2013 and 2016) a Livestream event featured in 15+ countries.

His story was featured in the HBO documentary and book Citizen USA: A 50 State Road Trip by Alexandra Pelosi.

Dennis lives in the U.S. with his wife and their two children.

Anjali Forber-Pratt

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Zambia

Anjali is an elite wheelchair racer, Paralympic ambassador, public speaker and Assistant Professor at Peabody College in the Department of Human & Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University. She is a 2011 World Champion in the 200m and holds two bronze medals from the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China in addition to representing Team USA in London at the 2012 Paralympic Games. She is currently focusing her research on disability identity, inclusion, disability sport and work related to disability activism. Anjali is a born fighter and strives for athletic excellence and leading a life filled with integrity.

Cathy Sellers

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Nigeria

Recently retired from the United States Olympic Committee. Served the last nine years as the Director of Paralympic Track and Field. A track and field coach for over 40 years at multiple lev-els- High School level, Collegiate level ( Stephen F. Austin State and The Ohio State University) and Team USA.

The Rio Paralympic track and field team garnered 43 medals, more than any sport in Olympics or Paralympics since 1972.

Previously served as the Manager of the USOC Coaching program and editor of Olympic Coach magazine prior to Paralympics. Was the Manager for Development Programs for USA Track and Field for eight years managing USATF Coaching Education program, Juniors, Men and Women’s Sport Development.

A former All-American, who spent her collegiate career jumping over barriers in the 400 Hurdles, Sellers received her B.S. (All-Level HPE)from Texas Woman’s University, a Masters of Educa-tion (University of Houston) and an Educational Mid-Management certification (Prairie View A & M University).

Deja Young

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Nigeria
  • 2020  –  Virtual
  • 2021  –  Japan

Born with brachial plexus that caused nerve damage and limited mobility to her right shoulder, Young has excelled with her unique running form. A standout on her high school track team, she lettered all four years while also competing in volleyball and softball. Despite her success, she received a lot of resistance from recruiters and college coaches because of her disability. She earned a track scholarship to Wichita State University where she was All-Conference. It was at a college meet that she learned about Paralympic track and field, a path that would lead her to her first Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. She also served as an athlete mentor as part of the Sports Envoy Program of the U.S. State Department to Nigeria in 2018.

Joe LeMar

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Zambia

Joseph LeMar is a paralympic athlete that has competed mainly in the T44 400 Meter events. LeMar competed in the TS2 400m at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona winning the gold medal. He then missed his home games in Atlanta in 1996 but did return for the 2000 Summer Paralympics where as well as competing in the T44 400m and T46 4 × 400 m he won a bronze medal in the T44 800m. He now coaches high school track and field and cross country.

Chris Waddell

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Tanzania

· Dalai Lama’s Unsung Hero of Compassion

· Thirteen-time Paralympic Medalist

· World Champion in skiing and track

· Most medals of any male monoskier in Paralympic history

· Doctor of Humane Letters, Middlebury College

· First Ambassador International Paralympic Committee

· Founder One Revolution Foundation

· First nearly unassisted paraplegic to summit Mt Kilimanjaro

· Paralympic Hall of Fame

· US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

· People Magazine “50 Most Beautiful People”

· Skiing Magazine “25 Greatest Skiers in North America”

· NPR: The Best Graduation Speeches, Ever (Middlebury College ’11)

· NBC Paralympic Commentator (Opening, Closing, Track and Skiing)

Barry Siff

Triathalon

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Benin
  • 2018  –  Panama

Barry Siff had a successful business career primarily in the food industry. He was a Vice President by the time he was 27, and eventually became Sr. Vice President of a multi-billion dollar company at the age of 40. However, after less than three years in that role, at the age of just 42, he and his entire executive team were removed, and Barry reinvented himself into the world of sports.

An avid marathoner and triathlete, having completed over 70 marathons, ultra-marathons, and Ironman competitions, Siff turned to the then exploding world of adventure racing. He helped start “MountainQuest Adventures,” which held 24-hour events and training camps in Colorado. At the same time, Siff became an elite adventure racing athlete, racing all over the world in multi-day expedition races from 1998 to 2003. These 5-10 day events took him to places like Tibet, Argentina, New Zealand, China, Fiji, and a dozen other exotic remote locations.

In 2004, Barry and his wife, Jodee, bought a small triathlon in Boulder, CO, and in five short years grew “5430 Sports” into one of America’s leading triathlon event companies, selling it to World Triathlon Corp. (“Ironman”) in 2009. Looking to give back to the sport he loved so much, Barry got involved with and ultimately was elected to the Board of Directors of USA Triathlon in 2012. In 2014, he was elected President of USA Triathlon, and served five years in this capacity.

Siff was asked to join the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Executive Board, also, in 2014, the governing body of the sport worldwide, and continues in that capacity today. In 2016, Siff was appointed a U.S. Department of State Sports Envoy, and has made sports diplomacy trips in that capacity to Benin (Africa), Panama, and Seoul, Korea.

Barry has served on the Boards of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, and has also co-authored two books: “Adventure Racing: The Ultimate Guide” and “Fit and Fun for Life.” He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from WPI, and an MA in Industrial Relations from Wayne State University. He continues to remain very active in triathlon, running, and other endurance events today.

Dr. Andrea Woodson-Smith

Wheelchair Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  China
  • 2015  –  Papua New Guinea
  • 2015  –  Australia
  • 2018  –  Botswana

Dr. Andrea Woodson-Smith is a full professor at North Carolina Central University specializing in adapted physical activity and sports and physical education pedagogy. She earned her PhD from Texas Woman’s University specializing in adapted physical education, MS from North Carolina Central University specializing in adapted physical education and a BS from James Madison University, Kinesiology where she also competed as a Division I women’s basketball athlete.

She received an invite to try out for the American Basketball League (ABL) and also tried out for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was a volunteer assistant women’s basketball coach for Texas Woman’s University and an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach for Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL, an assistant varsity girls’ basketball coach and JV volleyball coach for East Chapel Hill High School and JV volleyball coach and assistant varsity volleyball coach for Waynesboro High School.

She participated in the 2003 and 2011 ParaPan American Games, 2006 and 2010 and 2012 U.S Paralympic team. She has also participated as the Vice Chair of the Women’s Division, Chair of the Youth Development Committee of the Women’s Division, Committee member of the High Performance Committee and currently member of the ADM and High Performance Committees and serves as a Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State.

During her spare time, she is an advocate for colon cancer, children’s cancer and equality for all girls and women in sports and a 7th grade girls Life Group Leader for New Hope Church

Rose Hollermann

Wheelchair Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Botswana

Paralympic Experience:
Two-time Paralympian (2012, 2016); One-time medalist (1 gold)
Paralympic Games Rio 2016 , gold
Paralympic Games London 2012, 4th
World Championship Experience
Most recent: 2018 – 6th
Years of competition: 2018

Personal: In 2001, Hollermann and her family were involved in a car accident that took the lives of two of her brothers and caused her to be partially paralyzed from the waist down. As part of her rehabilitation, she was introduced to swimming at the Courage Center in Minneapolis. From there, she tried sled hockey, track and field, archery, cross-country skiing and wheelchair basketball. She discovered her talent and passion for wheelchair basketball. In 2011, she became one of the youngest players on the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team at age 15. Since then, she has excelled in her career, playing collegiate basketball at the University of Texas at Arlington and leading Team USA to Paralympic gold in 2016….Daughter of John and Michelle Hollermann…Has three brothers: Shane, Ethan, and Seth Hollermann…Hobbies include fishing, hunting, basketball, sled hockey, photography, listening to music.