From the New York Times:

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit will participate in the Olympic marathon swim this week “with no lower left leg or prosthetic assistance to help her kick through 6.2 miles of open water, competing as the first female amputee in an able-bodied Olympics.”

She lost her left leg in 2004 after being struck by a car that pulled out of a parking lot. An excerpt:

Unlike her countryman Oscar Pistorius, who sprints on a pair of carbon-fiber legs, du Toit has provoked no debate about whether she has a competitive advantage in her event. There is no benefit to a lack of kicking power, symmetry and buoyancy when you make your living as a swimmer.

… “In the water, I’m just like everybody else,” du Toit said. “They wouldn’t hold back, saying, ‘There’s a disabled athlete, I’ll go slower.’ ”

That is all she has wanted. To be just like everybody else.

(AFP photo from the New York Times)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 7:02 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, exercise/sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.