Overcoming Ailments
This video show highlights of biker Lance Armstrong who overcame cancer.He won 7 Tour De France titles.
(http://nbnl.globalwhelming.com/2008/08/23/beijing-olympics-2008-personality-natalie-du-toit-one-leg-but-not-any-slower/)This article was publsihed at http://www.foxsports.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24217435-5016786,00.html
SOUTH African swimmer Natalie du Toit didn't win a medal in the women's open water 10km race at Shunyi. She didn't need to.
The 24-year-old's journey to the start line in Beijing has been an achievement worthy of any Olympic medal. Du Toit yesterday made history as the first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games, finishing 16th in a field of 25.
Du Toit lost her left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, a year after narrowly failing to qualify for the Sydney Games. Her leg was amputated at the knee after it began to turn gangrenous.
She was back in the water three months later and yesterday's 10km race was the culmination of her life-long dream to compete at the Olympics.
Such was the immense interest in Du Toit's story, she was mobbed by reporters from all around the world after the race.
The five-time Athens Paralympic champion, who gives motivational speeches for a living, admitted she was overcome by emotion before the race and was almost choking up as she later spoke about her journey.
"For me to come to the Olympics Games has been a dream come true," du Toit said.
"To be here, it's been a long road. I have worked hard to get here. I deserve to be here on merit. I don't want to get anything free."
Du Toit, who wears a prosthetic leg out of the water, was prompted to give open water swimming a try last year because there is less emphasis on the start and no tumble turns to worry about.
She qualified for Beijing after finishing fourth at the 10km world open water championships in Seville in May. Despite her thrill of competing at the Games, du Toit marked her own performance harshly.
"For my first Olympic race I am a bit disappointed. I didn't have such a good race," said du Toit, who finished 1min 22.2sec behind Russian gold medallist, Larisa Ilchenko.
"Placing 16th is not too bad, but I wanted to come top five.
"But I tried my best and I still have the Paralympics, so I have to keep focused."
Du Toit admitted she had proven doubters wrong that she would never make it to sport's biggest stage, but did not consider herself a campaigner for athletes with a physical disability.
"For me it's not about being able-bodied or disabled, it's all the same to me, I get up and I race. I am not a campaigner, it's just my personal dream and my personal goal," she said.
Du Toit finished one position behind Australian Melissa Gorman, who came 15th in 1min 05.9sec behind Ilchenko (1hr 59min 27.7sec) in only her second major international open water race.
After almost two hours in the water, yesterday's result came down to a sprint finish, with just three seconds separating Ilchenko and British silver and bronze medallists Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten.
The conditions were testing for the swimmers, who swam in 28C water. Gorman had a big pack of ice shoved down the front of her swimsuit after the race to help bring her core body temperature down.
"I am happy with how my race panned out for the most part," Gorman, 22, said.
"It was pretty tough out there. It was certainly hot and 10km, when you are going as hard as you can go, is not easy in hot water.
"This is only my second major international race and I improved 10 places, so hopefully I can go even better."
Record Breaking
Michale Phelps has 26 individual swimming world records.Michale Johnson has the world record in the 400m dash, and was once the 200m dash world record holder. He received 5 Olympic metals.
Conclusion
I found that there are really only two types of sport heroes, ones who overcame an ailment, an ones who set records. The ones that over come ailments are usually considered greater heroes.
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