Three soldier-athletes will represent the U.S. and the Army in the upcoming Paralympics in Tokyo. 

Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Marks, a swimmer who won gold and bronze at the 2016 Paralympic Games, and Staff Sgt. John Wayne Joss III and Staff Sgt. Kevin Nguyen, who will both compete in shooting, are members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

At least 541 soldiers have been selected for the Summer or Winter Olympic teams since the World Class Athlete Program was founded in 1948. In that time, soldier-athletes have amassed at least 131 Olympic medals in various sports, according to DoD. 

The Paralympic Games in Tokyo will begin Aug. 24 and run through Sept. 5, with more than 4,400 athletes from 160 countries.

In addition to the three Paralympians, 14 soldier-athletes from across the Army represented the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics, which ended Aug. 8. Of those, 1st Lt. Amber English, who competed in women’s shotgun skeet, won the gold medal and broke an Olympic record after she hit 56 out of 60 targets. 

Marks, Joss and Nguyen were all wounded while serving overseas, but they have fought hard to recover and compete at an elite level. 

Nguyen, an infantryman who lost a leg in a bomb blast in 2013 while deployed to Afghanistan, was assigned to the Army Marksmanship Unit after he recovered from his wounds. “I love the self-satisfaction that my hard work is paying off and that I am properly training and preparing to succeed when I perform at the Tokyo Olympics,” Nguyen said, according to the Army. 

Joss, who was also an infantryman, was wounded by a roadside bomb in 2007 in Iraq, resulting in a lower right leg amputation. In 2011, while attending the Warrior Leader Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was asked to join the Army shooting team. “Start young, be dedicated, surround yourself with the best,” Joss said, according to the Army. “In doing this, you will become the best.” 

Marks, the Army’s first Paralympic swimmer who earned a gold and a bronze in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, was wounded in Iraq in 2010. Much of her rehabilitation took place in the pool, and just two years later, she was accepted into the World Class Athlete Program. 

In Tokyo, she will compete in the 100-meter backstroke, 50-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and the 50-meter freestyle events. 

“I am honored to represent my country and the U.S. Army,” Marks said, according to the Army. “None of this would be possible without my brothers and sisters in the military. I never thought I could [pursue] something like this, and they pushed me to try.”