Lex Gillette
- Five-time Paralympic Medalist, Four-time world champion, and world record holder
- Elite Athlete featured on ESPN, SportsIllustrated, People Magazine, and Fast Company
- Empowering People of All Ages to Look Past Their Current Reality and Find Their Own Unique Vision in Life
Travels From
California
Lex Gillette Speaker Biography
Lex Gillette is the best totally blind long and triple jumper in the history of the U.S. Paralympic movement. He is the current world record holder in the long jump, a five-time Paralympic medalist, a four-time long jump world champion, and an 18-time national champion. He is the only totally blind athlete to ever eclipse the 22-foot barrier in the long jump. If you think that any of this came easy, you should think again.
Many of his fellow eight-year-olds could be seen riding bicycles, shooting baskets, or frolicking on nearby playgrounds, but Lex was dealing with a far more challenging opponent. His sight began to slowly fade entirely due to recurrent retina detachments. Ten operations failed to stabilize what little sight he had left. After the final surgery, Lex’s mother Verdina Gillette-Simms, had the difficult task of telling her son he would likely never see again. As painful as this was, she vowed to teach Lex everything he would need to know to be successful in life. Her hard work and love were the foundation for Lex’s accomplishments.
At the age of 19, Lex won his first Paralympic silver medal in the long jump. His achievements at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece were the culmination of years of hard work and training. Since that time, Lex has solidified himself as a tenacious competitor for Team USA. Each of his athletic performances since that time has resulted in medals with the most recent being silver in the long jump at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Lex now has not only competed in but medaled in five consecutive Paralympic Games and he's looking for more. Ultimately, there is one goal, and that is to win gold for the United States of America. As an athlete, motivational speaker, and singer-songwriter, Lex epitomizes the phrase “No Need for Sight When You Have a Vision®”.
Remove the Blindfold
Lex explores the idea of blindfolds, how they appear in our lives and amongst our teams, and what we can do to remove them to see the world with more clarity and truth.
No Need For Sight When You Have a Vision®
Lex explores the importance of vision, how it plays a critical role in our ability to break down barriers and accomplish our biggest goals, and how the presence of a vision establishes a framework for endless potential and achievement.
Connection is the New Currency
We will traverse through the 13-year relationship between Lex and his guide Wesley Williams, and how a real and authentic connection has helped propel Lex to dominance on the global stage. You will leave this session with a firm understanding of the power skills needed to build and maintain real connection, and how that connection helps drive teams to dominance in the arena of life that matters most to them.
