Nick Mayhugh talks 'invisible disabilities', the reason behind his iconic brain-scan hair design at Paris 2024
"The top of my head, it looks like a brain," Nick Mayhugh explained to Olympics.com of the design he chose to dye his hair for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. "But then if you look closer, you can see the dead spot on the right side that affects the left side of my body."
The reason the Para sprinter decided to portray his injury in such a compelling fashion is profound.
"I wanted to get people talking about it and to understand that there are invisible disabilities, and people like me do exist and do compete in the Paralympics, and just because I look normal, I still have a disability."
The American was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 14 after suffering a grand mal seizure. Doctors discovered a dead spot on his brain, caused by a stroke he had during a difficult birth, which required a complete blood transfusion.
"It was a very bittersweet experience and day for me, because on one hand, it gave me all the answers to why my childhood was the way it was and everything that I was feeling on my left side and why I couldn't do certain things that I could with my right. To me, that was my normal, and to be given an answer for it really gave me a sense of relief, but also told me you are disabled, you are now a disabled athlete," explained Mayhugh, a talented soccer player at the time.
"My neurologist looked me in the eye and told me I would never be able to play sports again. I stood up and looked at her and told her she was wrong and walked out out of that office. I made a decision that day that I could either feel sorry for myself having a disability or know that I can use this to my advantage and overcome this like I had my entire life and use it to educate and hopefully inspire generations to come."
Replicating his brain scan atop his head while competing in two events on the biggest Para sport showcase of all certainly does that.
Nick Mayhugh joins Noah Lyles' training group
On being introduced to the crowd at the Stade de France on Saturday 31 August ahead of the men's 100m T38 final, the 28-year-old pointed to the dead spot before taking to the iconic purple-hued track, where he finished seventh.
"Ain’t nothin like being humbled in front of 70,000 people.. I LOVE IT. God bless. See yall on the 4th 🧠," he posted afterwards.
The former footballer who had only turned to athletics after his original sporting love was dropped from the schedule at Tokyo 2020, had come away from Japan, his first Paralympic Games with a stunning haul of three gold medals, one silver and a world record.
But a fallow period followed in which he struggled with his mental health.
"I thought that once I won that gold medal, once I broke that world record, that it would make me happy. And when I got home, I have never been that depressed and unsettled in my entire life, and I didn't know why."
Opening up to family, friends and teammates helped, but another challenge came in the form of a change in category for the Paris 2024 cycle.
"Unfortunately, I was reclassified to a different classification because I was told I was too fast for my disability, which is very frustrating. Everyone always asks me, 'are you going to do the exact same thing that you did in Tokyo?' And unfortunately, the answer is no, because I don't have the opportunity to compete in four events."
As he did after CP football was removed from the Paralympic schedule, an adjustment of goals proved one of the keys to moving forward. Mayhugh added the long jump to his repertoire, in which he competes in Paris on 4 September.
Reaching out to a fellow sprinter of world renown proved another spark, offering the friendship and understanding Mayhugh needed to progress under the pressures that only another elite athlete can understand.
Noah Lyles was that man, the Olympic gold medallist in the men's 100m at Paris 2024.
Mayhugh moved from North Virginia to Florida to join the training group of the triple world gold medallist, alongside the likes of Wayde van Niekerk, the Rio 2016 gold medallist and world record breaker in the men's 400m, and Shaunae Miller-Uibo, a fellow one lapper and two-time Olympic gold medallist in the women's edition.
That's quite the talent pool to surround yourself with both for the physical training and camaraderie between athletes of the rollercoaster of emotions it takes to achieve their lofty dreams, the dreams that had now altered for the new recruit.
"My goals (in Paris) are to just be better than I was in Tokyo as a man and as a human being, and of the representation of what I can do for the sport," he told Olympics.com.
New challenges, new goals for Nick Mayhugh
Clarifying his focus of raising the profile of invisible disabilities, especially to inspire young kids, is now Mayhugh's raison d'etre.
The perfect platform for that is the Paralympic Games, an event he did not even know about until he was in his 20s.
"I vow to dedicate the rest of my life to hopefully ensure that there's not another kid in the U.S. or hopefully the world that grows up 22 years of their life not knowing that there is a world that they can be accepted in, that they can be celebrated in, and that they can feel comfortable within and not be judged, not be looked at differently," Mayhugh told us.
"Because when we go into the Paralympic Village, everybody looks like you, and it's such an incredible environment and everyone is so happy and so carefree and so welcoming, and it's just such a great place to be in. I'm just honoured to be here."