Five years after brutal attack severed her spine, Tracy Otto proudly calls herself a Paralympian

PARIS (AP) — Five years after losing an eye and having her spinal cord severed while being attacked, Tracy Otto smiles as she proudly calls herself a Paralympian.

Otto is competing for the United States in archery and is supported by her boyfriend, Ricky Riessle. They were both violently attacked in bed at Otto's home in Florida by her ex-boyfriend in October 2019. He shot Otto through her left eye with a high-powered pellet gun, punched her repeatedly and knifed the back of her neck. Riessle was also seriously injured.

“I never thought that my life would rise from the ashes as it has. To be on the world stage is such an amazing experience,” the 28-year-old Otto said on Thursday after competing in the women’s individual ranking round as Paralympic events got underway. “I’m just so happy to be here and to be considered a Paralympian.”

Otto took up archery two years after the attack, which she openly talks about because she wants victims of violence to know they are not alone.

“You honestly have to love yourself through it ... and keep going,” Otto said. “Your circumstances don’t define you. You can do anything you set your heart out to do.”

Riessle sat beside Otto as she fired arrows, releasing them through a special device attached to her mouth.

“I have a traditional wrist release, and it has a camera shutter staple that’s connected to it that goes up and around through my hat and drops down in front of my face," she explained. "There’s a close pin apparatus that I bite down on that releases the arrow.”

Morning temperatures in Paris hovered around 21 degrees (70 F) and that made it tougher. Because of her injuries, heat is a major issue and Otto could not sit through all of Wednesday's four-hour opening ceremony.

“I was stabbed in the back and in the neck and it severed my spinal cord and it causes me not to be able to thermal regulate," Otto explained. “I can’t regulate my body temperature at all anymore. Sitting in the sun, my internal temperature goes up and I can’t sweat, so I can’t cool down. When I get too cold I shiver, but my body doesn’t warm up.”

Riessle shielded her with an umbrella and sprayed her face with cool water afterward. Otto has bowel and bladder complications and her brain also does not communicate properly with her body. A minor scratch can trigger off an excessive reaction in her body, increasing blood pressure and leaving her vulnerable to a heart attack.

Riessle's companionship is priceless.

“He is my light. He’s my everything. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. Obviously, my body doesn’t function the way that it used to. After the attack happened and I did a little bit of rehab, I was left at a nursing home (in Chicago) by my family.”

Riessle went to Chicago and took her back to Florida.

“He helps me, not only physically with things that I have to do throughout life, but mentally and emotionally. His support means the absolute world.”

Otto has post-traumatic stress therapy but sport helps.

“Archery is a big outlet for me, it helps me through that a big amount. Just finding ways to cope and surrounding myself with people that love and care about me.”

At a Paris café on Wednesday, she read dozens of cards and letters of support.

“The amount of positivity and love and kindness that everyone was giving can be overwhelming,” she said. "But it was so heart-warming and it really motivated me.”

Riessle saw Otto's motivation when she was lying in hospital.

“She had a smile on her face the second the tubes came out. Just her determination and drive was amazing,” he explained. “She’s my everything.”

He also needs her support.

Riessle was shot twice in the face and stabbed in the back, causing one of his lungs to collapse. He walks freely but has hearing loss in his left ear and night times are difficult.

“I still don’t like to fall asleep, especially in new places," he said. "So I haven’t been sleeping the greatest here. Anytime we travel I’m always on high alert."

Otto’s ex-boyfriend was sentenced to 40 years in jail, and Riessle vividly remembers what happened.

“Being woken up by what I thought was a real gun straight to my face and then to get attacked the way we did ..." Riessle said. "For him to tell us, ‘I’m going to kill you both and then either kill myself or call the police.’

“I say that I’m fine, but I have people tell me that I’m not, that I still need to go to therapy," he added. “If I didn’t walk out of that attack there’s no way I would be here right now.”

AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

Paralympian archers Sarka Musilova, of the Czech Republic, left, and Tracy Otto, from the U.S., prepare to fire during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Scheyer)

A small sign reading "Para World Ranking #1" sits next to archer Tracy Otto from the U.S. during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Scheyer)

Archer Tracy Otto from the U.S., right, is assisted by her boyfriend Ricky Riessle, as she prepares to compete in the individual ranking round during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Scheyer)

Archer Tracy Otto from the U.S. prepares to fire during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Scheyer)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill that codifies economic sanctions, like those imposed by the United States, as crimes against humanity and allows the prosecution of anyone who expresses support for the measures.

The bill, approved by the unicameral National Assembly, implicitly targets leading opposition leaders, many of whom have supported economic sanctions as a means to pressure the government into negotiations. The measure bans supporters of economic sanctions from running for office and allows authorities to prosecute them in absentia and seize their property.

“The unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures adopted against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela constitute a crime against humanity, within the framework of a systematic and widespread attack against the civilian population,” the bill, as read during Thursday's session, states.

A conviction under the bill would carry a sentence of at least 25 years in prison.

The approval comes one day after the White House announced it had imposed sanctions on 21 individuals it accused of undermining Venezuela’s July presidential election. It also followed the decision by the U.S. House of Representatives last week to pass a bill that would block the federal government from contracting any company doing business with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The measure is the latest effort by Venezuela's ruling party to silence dissent after the July election, which Maduro and former diplomat Edmundo González both claim to have won.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28. But unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines, posted them online and said the voting records showed González won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Anti-government protests erupted nationwide the day after the election, drawing repression from state security forces, which arrested more than 2,200 people, including political leaders, lawyers, poll workers, election volunteers and protesters, both minors and adults.

González left Venezuela in September for exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of the vote tally sheets, while opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been hiding for months at an undisclosed location.

Machado last year won the presidential primary organized by the main opposition coalition. But Maduro's government kept her off the July 28 ballot via an administrative decision that concluded she could not run for office because she allegedly sought the broad economic sanctions the U.S. imposed last decade in an effort to topple Maduro. The sanctions crippled Venezuela's crucial oil sector.

Machado’s hand-picked substitute was also barred from representing the Unitary Platform opposition coalition. That prompted the faction’s leadership to choose González as candidate.

Last week, Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office announced a new investigation against Machado. Her comments in favor of the U.S. House bill, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office, “constitute the commission of crimes of treason against the country,” conspiracy with foreign countries and association.

Machado rejected the accusations in a video she posted Thursday on social media.

“Let them accuse us of treason against the country the day we stand by with our arms crossed, when we believe that there is nothing more to fight for,” she said in a video showing images from this year's presidential campaign. “In that moment, accuse us of betraying the country... resigning ourselves would be a betrayal.”

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, center, holds a document of a bill approved by lawmakers that codifies economic sanctions as a crime against humanity and allows the prosecution of anyone who expresses support for the measures, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)