OUR TECHNOATHLETES
Paralympians bound for Rio
Gold medallist Cameron Leslie has a new spring in his step. Four months ago, the Auckland-based paraswimmer became the proud owner of a $70,000 pair of computerised artificial legs, named C-legs.
‘‘I like to call them Cameronlegs,’’ says the 26-year-old, chuckling.
He reckons they’re his secret weapon for his bid to defend his world record and gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, kicking off on September 7 at the same venues as the Olympics, which have just finished.
For Leslie and some fellow Kiwi Paralympians, hi-tech prosthetics have joined forces with their sheer hard graft to lift their chances of podium endings.
It’s part of a concerted push by Paralympics New Zealand and the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service to access the best prosthetics available internationally for them to successfully compete at the world’s largest sporting event for athletes with disabilities.
Leslie is very grateful the public purse has funded his C-legs, which are ‘‘leaps and bounds’’ better than his old mechanical legs.
‘‘Each day, I look forward to putting my legs on. In the past, it was ‘Come on, legs, let’s go’.’’
No-one knows why the Whangarei man was born with four shortened limbs. His leg stumps end above his knees, his left arm stops half-way down his forearm and his right arm has a thumb, but no fingers.
That hasn’t stopped him living life in the fast lane.
He has claimed numerous medals and world records for paraswimming since the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where he shocked himself by winning gold in a world record-breaking time for the men’s 150m individual medley in his category. Four years later, he repeated that golden swim and broke his record at the London Paralympics.
Para-swimmers are banned from using artificial limbs in the water, so his new legs must stay poolside, but he credits them with boosting his performance. Their microprocessor knees control his gait with hydraulics, which saves him precious energy when walking, and built-in shock absorbers make them less exhausting to wear.
‘‘Living my life, I’ve noticed I’ve got more energy, so I’ve got more energy for training.
‘‘It’s not day-to-day that I notice the difference. It’s when you get to the end of the week, I’m not as shattered.’’
The new limbs allow him to do gym exercises that were previously impossible, like squats, because their bended knees can weight-bear.
As a result, Leslie’s muscles in his core, butt and upper legs are stronger, which has improved his balance and strength in the water, plus he can push off the pool wall better when turning.
They will also make his travel and stay in Rio more pleasant, he says.
In the past, he has relied on his wheelchair to avoid exhausting walks through airports for international swimming competitions.
‘‘When you are trying to conserve your energy, it was easier to hop into the wheelchair.’’
This time, he will pack his wheelchair, but hopes to rarely use it and walk everywhere instead.
‘‘I enjoy being on my new legs more than being in a chair.’’
One difference is his new artificial legs need to be regularly charged, even on the plane to Brazil.
‘‘I’m learning to take the charger with me. It’s not your normal thing you have to worry about – packing a leg charger,’’ he says, admitting he has been caught out previously.
In June, he got his first taste of his new legs’ benefits while competing in Germany.
Not only did he break his world record in the individual medley again, but life outside the pool was far better.
One day, he walked for hours around Berlin sightseeing with fellow Kiwi para-swimmer Jesse Reynolds, who has a mechanical artificial leg.
‘‘The really telling evidence was when I got up the next day and I was as good as gold. For me, if I’d walked that far on my old legs, I would hardly be able to walk the next day,’’ Leslie says. Reynolds wasn’t so lucky. The Hamilton 19-year-old student, who is now based in Auckland, was exhausted after the pair’s jaunt.
It has made him eager to get a C-leg and he hopes that will happen after Rio.
‘‘Looking at Cameron, it’s really been a great impact on him. If we can minimise the energy used when I go out, it will help me in the pool too.’’
His para-swimming coach, Gary Francis, agrees.
‘‘The day after their sightseeing, Cameron was as fresh as a daisy after walking all day. Jesse was very tired and sore. That sums up the modern technology and the older technology.
‘‘We are hoping that they can get a much more functional prosthesis that will enable him to walk with a more normal gait. Walking is still difficult for him. It will make him less fatigued.
‘‘From a training perspective, it will mean his recovery rate will be better in the pool and in the gym as well.’’
Reynolds was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency. His right femur bone is missing and his knee is fused to his hip, while his lower leg has replaced his thigh. A little foot on its end was amputated in infancy.
He knows his artificial leg’s limitations painfully well.
A week before the Paralympic qualifying trials in March, his prosthesis slipped on the wet pool floor and he fell, snapping his stump’s fibular bone in two places.
A cast was out of the question for the Auckland competition and drug testing plus performance impacts also meant he could only take low level pain killers.
He had to tough it out with a broken leg for his first trial, the 400m freestyle. ‘‘It was very painful. I was close to vomiting