It’s no secret that the United States wheelchair rugby team was aiming for gold at the 2024 Paralympics, but their performance in Paris offered reasons to celebrate beyond the medal color.

For the seventh consecutive Games, the team is bringing home a medal, following a thrilling showdown with a skilled Japanese team in the gold medal match.

The Americans were in the driver's seat for the first half and led by three points heading into the second period, but in the end a few ill-timed turnovers were too hard to overcome.

As a result, for the first time in Paralympic history, the Japanese won the gold medal and the U.S. grabbed the silver with a final score of 48-41. 

“We started giving up the ball a lot more and that didn’t help,” team co-captain Chuck Aoki told NBC Olympics. “Personally I started to run out of gas. Japan is really talented and they’re able to rotate their players a little bit more than we are and I think that little bit of freshness helped them.”

Aoki has been playing on the international stage since 2009 and was just 21 years old when he played in his first Paralympic Games at London 2012.

A gold is the only medal missing in his growing collection, which now includes three silvers and a bronze, making him the most decorated wheelchair rugby player in U.S. Paralympic history.

But it's the time he gets to spend with his teammates that means more than any medal could.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Aoki said. “12 years ago if you told me I’d be sitting here 12 years later with that honor, I wouldn’t have believed it. Obviously I wish one of those medals was a gold medal, but there’s still an immense amount of pride and joy in all the medals we’ve won. It means the most to be able to share it with my teammates. I play a team sport because I love team sports and being a part of the team ... I’m really proud of the team and happy I got to spend another quad playing with these guys.”

Before the gold medal game, co-captain Eric Newby said that the team huddled together — not to remind themselves of their goal but why they play the sport.

“We spoke a lot about enjoying the moment and accepting the joy,” Newby said. “We play rugby because it's fun and because we love it. We just didn't want to lose sight of that and that message alone took a lot of pressure off the game. We knew what we were doing and what we were playing for, but we’re also playing for the love of the game and I think that part alone was easy to fall back on. It’s a huge reason we came out flying around and ended the first quarter being on top.”

One of the team’s top players was Sarah Adam, who tied with Aoki to lead the team with 14 tries.

Adam took up the sport after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was invited to the national team tryout camp in December 2021. In 2022, she and Elizabeth Dunn became the first women to represent Team USA at the world championships, where the team won silver.

In Paris, she made history as the first U.S. woman to take the court as a member of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team.

“It's a really exciting time for females in sport and finally getting some recognition and visibility,” Adam said. “To be a small piece of that puzzle has been really exciting. Honestly, to be able to do it amongst this team in particular who embraced me from the beginning and treated me as no different than any other teammate has been really fun.”

Since wheelchair rugby was introduced to the Paralympics in 2000, it has been a mixed-gender sport. However, the physically intense game, often referred to as "murderball," has traditionally been dominated by men.

At the last Paralympics in Tokyo, only four of the 96 athletes were women. In Paris, that number has doubled to eight.

“I think part of (the lack of female participation) is visibility and that’s what we’re trying to fix right now ... showing people that females do belong in this sport and can play a vital role on the court,” Adam said. “There’s a ton of females out there that identify as an athlete. There’s a huge part of my identity as an athlete and to reconnect with that was important for me and wheelchair rugby was the one that I loved. It's considered largely male dominated and very physical, but I fell in love with it and I think there’s other females who are going to feel the same way so we just need more visibility to show that we have a place out there.”

For Adam, Clayton Brackett, Brad Hudspeth, Josh O’Neill, Zion Redington and Mason Symons, the silver in Paris marks the first Paralympic medal of their careers.

Aiki owns four medals, while Newby along with Josh Wheeler, Lee Fredette, Jeff Butler all now own three silvers.

There’s a strong chance we’ll see many of them on the court in four more years at the LA 2028 Paralympics.

And you can expect them to be more fired up than ever.

“LA 2028 has always been on my mind,” Aoki said. “The reality is, a home Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I think I’d always been planning on it but hadn’t fully decided anything for sure. Last night I said, ‘I know I want to go for this. I know this is something I want to do.’ I want to try to win a gold medal on home soil because that would be really special. So yeah, there was maybe a little extra energy last night that got me fired up.”