Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler,[4] who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.

[5] The United States finished third in the gold and overall medal count, behind host nation China and Great Britain.

[7] U.S. coverage of the Games was provided by the Universal Sports Television Network and the official website of the U.S. Paralympic Team.

Among them was shot putter Scott Winkler, a U.S. Army veteran who was paralyzed in Tikrit, Iraq in 2003 after he fell off a truck while holding 50 pounds of ammunition.

At the 2008 Paralympics, the U.S. men's goalball team hoped to repeat their bronze medal performance in Athens, but lost to Sweden in the final.

[38][39] Maureen McKinnon-Tucker and Nick Scandone clinched a gold medal in the SKUD-18 class with two races left in the series.

First-time Paralympian John Ruf won a bronze medal in a competitive 2.4 mR final race, where the top seven players of the fleet started within single-digit points of each other.

[43] Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb, became the first Iraq War veteran to be selected for the Paralympics.

[2][44] The roster also included Dave Denniston, an NCAA champion in the 200-yard breast stroke, two-time Olympic hopeful, and world record breaker who was paralyzed in a 2005 sledding accident.

[46] Miettinen (FIN) L 1–3 Robertson (GBR) L 0–3 Messi (FRA) W 3–0 du Plooy (RSA) W 3–0 Nardelli (ITA) L 1-3 Abuawad (JOR) L 0-3 The U.S. women's sitting volleyball team upset world number one Netherlands in five sets to reach the gold medal match, where they lost to China for a silver medal.

[48][49] The men's sitting volleyball team failed to qualify for the Paralympics after losing to Brazil at the 2007 Parapan American Games.

[50] Women's sitting volleyball Allison Aldrich Heather Erickson Alexandra Gouldie Katryn Holloway SuGui Kriss Kendra Lancaster Hope Lewellen Brenda Maymon (captain) Gina McWilliams Nichole Millage Kari Miller (libero) Lora Webster Coach: Michael Hulett The United States qualified for both men's and women's wheelchair basketball tournaments at the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation qualifying tournaments for the Americas.

[52] Eric Barber Joe Chambers Jacob Counts Jeremy Lade Matt Lesperance Jaime Mazzi Jay Nelms Mikey Paye Paul Schulte Matt Scott Steve Serio Jeff Glasbrenner Coach: Steve Wilson *Iran withdrew from its quarterfinal match against the United States on September 19, 2008.

Sarah Castle Patty Cisneros (captain) Loraine Gonzales Carlee Hoffman Emily Hoskins Mary Allison Milford Rebecca Murray Alana Nichols Christina Ripp Jen Ruddell Natalie Schneider Stephanie Wheeler Coach: Ronald Lykins The United States sent five athletes (four men and one woman) to compete in wheelchair fencing.

[55] At the Paralympics teams in the sport of wheelchair rugby are made up of mixed classification quadriplegic athletes of both sexes.

[57][58] Andy Cohn Will Groulx Scott Hogsett Bryan Kirkland Norm Lyduch Seth McBride Jason Regier Nick Springer Chance Sumner Joel Wilmoth Mark Zupan Coach: James Gumbert The American wheelchair tennis team consisted of nine players.

[59] Taylor and Wagner successfully defended their title in mixed doubles, which they had won four years earlier at the 2004 Paralympics.

Daily live and delayed highlight shows as well as coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies was available on-demand at UniversalSports.com from September 6–17.