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Paralympic
athlete speaks about overcoming hurdles
A
former Olympic athlete and double amputee spoke about
chasing her dreams.
By
Elizabeth Bassett
Staff Reporter
Aimee Mullins, a model, athlete, writer, and actress,
told women and men of TCU Monday night to remember to
pursue their goals, no matter how lofty or crazy.
“I would never have characterized myself, per se,
as an athlete,” she said from atop her stiletto heels.
Her crisp black pants suit hid two prostheses. Mullins,
who was born without one of the two bones in both her
lower legs, is a double below-the-knee amputee.
Mullins spoke in honor of the TCU Women’s Resource
Center’s tenth anniversary. A women’s community
dinner was held at the Kelly Alumni Center, and a Middle-Eastern
dinner was served to about 100 people before Mullins addressed
the audience.
Mullins described the way she grew up with sports, and
at the prompting of a friend she entered a 100-meter track
race for disabled athletes while in college. With her
ordinary prostheses, she had little chance of winning
against people with “funky NASA space-age legs.”
She did win, though, and totally committed herself to
running until she qualified for the 1996 Paralympic Games
in Atlanta. By this time she had a pair of “cheetah
leg” prostheses based on the hind leg of the world’s
fastest land animal.
Her competition proved tougher, though. Although all of
the international competitors she was pitted against were
amputees, they were missing only a hand or an arm. Even
with revolutionary technology, she was still missing two
limbs.
“I lost the biggest race of my life,” Mullins
said. “I had changed my whole life for this ... and
I felt so robbed.”
After a period of anxiety and depression, she finally
realized “the quest for the Holy Grail is not in
the cup but in the journey.”
Mullins noted that too many people “take what’s
happened before and they think it’s law.” Short-sightedness
and a lack of drive will disable anyone, she said.
Chancellor Victor Boschini said in a brief speech that
the event was important because it addressed “issues
vital to, but not exclusive to, women.”
Leann Cathcart, a sophomore pre-major, is a member of
the TCU swim team, and she said she was very inspired
by Mullins’ speech. “Women need to keep in mind
that the world is limitless and they can do anything they
set their mind to,” she said.
Marcy Paul, the director of the TCU Women’s Resource
Center, said Mullins did exactly what she came to do —
inspire everyone present. |
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Ty
Halasz/Staff Photographer
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| Model,
athlete and double amputee Aimee Mullins speaks
to a crowd of TCU faculty and students at the 10th
anniversary celebration of the Women’s Resource
Center. |
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