Kurt Fearnley Wins the Marathon in the Paralympics

Kurt Fearnley ended up winning the marathon in the Paralympics after his bad luck in the earlier races (see Kurt Fearnley’s Week from Hell). I liked what he said after winning: "It was as if it was just building in tension and building in hype. I knew in myself every single bad thing that happened just meant the next good thing that happened was going to be twice as good.”

Kurt Fearnley in the 2008 Paralympics

The Paralympics have been going on in China for quite some time now, and they aren't getting a fraction of the publicity the Olympics got. One of the big names in the news is Kurt Fearnley, who is ranked number one in the 1500 meter, the 5000 meter, and the marathon. He has been having some bad luck lately with first being assigned the wrong lane and then being hit from behind during the 1500 meter race yesterday: Kurt Fearnley's Rotten Luck.

Fearnley has sacral agenesis and is Australian. For more, see Athletes with CRS/SA.

Wheelchair Ballroom Dancing

I saw this great story about a woman, JoAnne Fluke, who has CRS and is a wheelchair ballroom dancer: With Groovability, Wheelchair Dancers Dismiss Notions of Disability. In describing why she likes dancing, she says, "I get the opportunity to really express how I feel. It feels like it doesn’t matter that I have wheels instead of feet. It’s in the heart. It’s in the soul.”

Amputee Runner Wins Right to Try for Olympic Spot

An exciting new development: Amputee Runner Wins Right to Try for Olympic Spot. Of course, people are arguing about this, that using these prosthetics is somewhat like using performance-enhancing drugs. This is a strange new development, that having a disability makes you "advantaged" rather than disadvantaged. It pretty much blows the old pity thinking out of the water, don't you think?

Athletes with CRS

Sometimes I worry because we have always told our son that there isn’t anything he can’t do, yet the doctors have said he shouldn’t do contact sports. This is because of his fused cervical vertebrae and also his kidneys, which are located lower than usual and therefore aren’t protected by his ribs. How are we going to break it to him that he can’t do some sports? However, I am seeing that there are tons of sports he can still do. I have already gotten him into swimming, but there is so much more! Anything is possible.

Kurt Fearnley from Australia has won several marathons, including last year’s New York City Marathon, in the wheelchair division. He also won at the 2004 Olympics for wheelchair racing. (This is not an official Olympic sport yet; this was just an exhibition event.)

Then there is Bobby Martin , who has no legs and plays college football.

Kevin Michael Connolly, is a photographer who also skis. (Note: Connolly never says he has CRS. In fact, he says he has a "spontaneous birth defect." However, I include him here because a lack of legs is sometimes characteristic of people with CRS, mainly from disarticulations.)

Tyler Walker also skis. He says, “I don't want to be viewed as a group of people who are missing limbs and are allowed to do an event just to make us feel good," Walker said. "I would feel really good to be an inspiration because I'm a good athlete or good at skiing, not because I'm in a wheelchair or I mono ski. There's a big difference there.

"When we achieve that, we'll be truly equal."