Inspiring Stories of Disabled Teens Who Won Paralympic Games
Having physical limitations is not an obstacle to get achievement and work. Five teenagers with disabilities can prove it.
They can achieve extraordinary achievements that even ordinary people find it challenging to achieve. The following summarizes five outstanding disabled teenagers who inspired many people:
Kayla Wheeler
Reported by ABC News, 16-year-old Wheeler was born without legs and only had one arm. But all the physical limitations she has, do not dampen her enthusiasm for achievement. She was also chosen to represent the US in the 2013 Paralympic Swimming World Championship.
Her passion for swimming began when she was eight months old. Because she was born without arms and legs, she was recommended by doctors to practice body balance by swimming.
Since then, Wheeler has continued to hone her limitations and has participated in various swimming competitions such as the Can-Am Para-Swimming championship, the world championship in the Netherlands. She also won a paralympic qualification in North Dakota 2012 and this allowed her to take part in the 2013 Paralympic Swimming World Championship.
The best achievement she won was to win bronze in the Rio de Janeiro world championship. If you also want to be a world champion like Wheeler and win golden medal, you can start to practice swim faster and participate in local swim tournament.
Jessica Long
The 25-year-old Russian-born woman is an adopted child. Long was born with disabilities without ankles, heels, and most of the bones in her legs.
Long is a swimming athlete. Before becoming a swimmer, Long had tried other sports such as gymnastics, basketball, cycling, to cheerleading. She later found her passion for swimming and has since participated in various championships and carved achievements such as the Athens 2004 Paralympic games; she won 3 gold medals and the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) world swimming championship in Durban, South Africa.
Long was also the winner of the 77th AAU James Sullivan Award three times (2007, 2012, and 2013), won the award of the best female athlete with disabilities from ESPN, and bears the swimmers of women with disabilities of the year from Swimming World Magazine.
Chelsea McClammer
Quoted from Team USA, this 23-year-old woman had an accident at the age of 6 years. The accident made her back unable to stand up straight since then she could not walk and had to sit in a wheelchair. Feeling not allowed to give up so easily, she rose and became a wheelchair racer.
McClammer has participated in various championships such as the 2008 and 2016 Paralympic Games, in Beijing, China, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she became the youngest wheelchair athlete from the US. The best achievement she has ever carved is to win two silver and one bronze at the 2008 and 2016 Paralympic games.
Anthony Robles
Robles is a wrestler who was born with one leg but refused to use prosthetic limbs. He refused all forms of outside assistance and chose to accept the conditions as they are.
He began practicing his maneuverability at the age of 3 and sharpened his body to become stronger. At the age of 6, he proved it by becoming the most push-up record holder in his school.
He started wrestling since he was eight years old because his cousin inspired him. In high school, Robles won two wrestling championships with a fantastic score of 96-0. He never lost at all, apart from his body being deformed.
The best achievement he has ever achieved is winning the NCAA Wrestling Championships professional wrestling competition 2010-2011, he became the best to beat all opponents who have a normal body.