Devin Wang (back row, second from left) helped the Haydenettes win their 21st U.S. title and fourth consecutive World bronze medal earlier this year.
Her name is Devin Wang, an elite skater who just nine days before the tragedy represent- ed Team USA at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in Boston. She and her team, the Haydenettes of nearby Lexington, Mass., earned the bronze medal in what surely is among the highlights of her young life. Yet less than two weeks later, just a block
from where she and her teammates celebrated at the host hotel, two bombs exploded near the marathon’s finish line on Boylston Street. Amid the chaos, spectators and racers scrambled for safety while others stood dazed amid the human carnage. Devin Wang, 20 years old at the time, ran straight into the unknown. A Boston University student majoring in athletic training, Wang’s job that fateful day was to assist runners as they crossed the finish line, placing physically exhausted runners into a wheelchair. Minutes before the explosions, Wang was repositioned about 20 yards before the finish line to help fatigued runners achieve their goals. She did not have a wheelchair in this role. “When the first explosion happened, it was
chaos,” Wang said on April 16, a day after the tragedy. “People were running, screaming. It was terrifying. I looked down and saw my hands grip- ping a wheelchair. I really have no idea where it came from. I wasn’t near one when it happened. I don’t remember how I got it.”
Wang’s first instinct was to run toward the blast, assuming victims would need transport. Using her skills as a synchro skater — a discipline that involves anticipating the movements of 19 teammates skating in many directions — Wang weaved the empty wheelchair against the tide of a panicked public. “I remember running over toward the first bomb site and seeing all of the debris and blood everywhere,” Wang recalled last month. “But [I] was uncertain about what I could do to help. Ten I heard and saw Carlos looking for some- one with a wheelchair to come over to where he was standing.” Arredondo scooped up the injured Bauman and placed him in the wheelchair. Wang started pushing the wheelchair back
toward the finish line where she knew ambulanc- es were staged. While Arredondo clamped Bau- man’s artery in his fingers, he and Wang worked in concert to get Bauman to an ambulance. At one point, a bloody gauze used as a tourniquet unraveled and became entangled in the wheel- chair’s mechanism, forcing Wang to stop and unwind it. With the wheels free, she and Arre- dondo pressed on toward the finish line, where they delivered Bauman into the capable hands of the ambulance staff. Against great odds, Bauman survived. And,
by fate or grace, Bauman became the third hero in that photograph.
After coming out of emergency surgery, a heavily sedated Bauman asked for a paper and pen. He wrote: “bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,” his brother told Te Boston Globe. Bau- man gave a description of the suspect to the FBI, saying the man wore “a cap, sunglasses and a black jacket over a hooded sweatshirt.” Bauman had “locked eyes” with the attacker as he placed the bomb-filled bag at the finish line. It was the bomb that killed three people, injured 260 — and instantly sheared off Bauman’s legs below both knees. Te two suspects, who had plans to carry out similar acts of terrorism, were identified. One was killed during the manhunt; the other remains in custody. Without question, Wang and Arredondo
played key roles in saving Bauman’s life, and their selflessness and heroism may have saved count- less others as well. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy,
Wang remained far from the spotlight, turning down media requests and accepting rare public accolades only in a large-group setting. When she speaks of that day, her focus turns to Bauman, oth- er victims and the heroics of all first responders. “It wasn’t just me,” she said. “So many peo- ple did what they could to help.” Wang, who is from San Ramon, Calif., has
returned to BU and begins her second season skating with the Haydenettes.
SKATING 9
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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