When most of us have a bad day, we’re dealing with the usual obstacles life can present?traffic, late assignments, and sick kids. These inspiring athletes have to deal with all that and more, but they haven’t let any of it stop them from reaching their goals. For them, there truly are no limits.
Joby Mathew, 33, has proximal femoral focal deficiency. But the disorder that left him with ?deformed hips and stunted legs? hasn’t stopped him from becoming the world arm wrestling champion. His next goal is to climb Mount Everest.
In this video, Dillon Collier is playing guard for the Greenwood Panthers, a school football team in West Texas. Dillon carries a special piece of equipment on the field: a radio inside his helmet. The reason? The young football player is blind.
Two years ago, Rick Ball had never run a marathon. Since then the 43-year-old has broken a marathon and a 10k record, both in the same year. He’s now got ?a shot at representing Canada at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.? Clearly, having only one leg isn’t about to slow this athlete down a bit.
In 1945, there were no official Paralympic games. But that didn’t stop Pete Gray from reaching baseball’s major leagues. This archival footage shows the one-armed player in action at Yankee Stadium.
At 6 feet 10 inches, Kevin Laue often heard people say he had the potential to be an N.C.A.A. Division I basketball recruit?if only he had two hands. People were right about his potential, but wrong about needing both hands. Laue recently accepted a basketball scholarship at Manhattan College.