Kelly Elmlinger is a cancer survivor, amputee, retired Army Captain, and is the 2018 USA Paratriathlon National Champion in the PTS4 division. She is on track to compete at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in the PTS5 division. Kelly served as a surgical nurse and combat medic during her time in service and has been a life long athlete. She was diagnosed with a synovial sarcoma (a rare soft-tissue cancer) and eventually had her leg amputated. In 2018, she received a run leg and sought to compete in sport again which lead her to para-triathlon. It was then she first competed for USA Paratriathlon at the 2018 World Championships and in 2020 became a member of the USA Paratriathlon national team. 

Kelly shares her story of the journey to find health which included applying for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for sublingual testosterone, the approval of the TUE and eventual overturn of the TUE by the World Anti-Doping Agency. In this interview, she discusses how she first learned about the TUE process and anti-doping rules, the use of testosterone to resolve medical issues and the effects of removing testosterone without medical guidance. In sharing her story, she hopes to minimize the potential for athletes to ‘slip through the cracks’, support the need for athlete education, improve the TUE process and highlight the role of having a support team to ensure health is maintained.

Listen to the podcast with Kelly Elmlinger here.

Disclaimer: The texts and interviews do not represent the opinions of the INDR members or their employers. They belong solely to the author or interviewee.