Techno-athletes Rio-bound
Advances in artificial limb technology will boost some of our 29 Paralympians’ medal chances at Rio next month. Deidre Mussen talks to the athletes leading the charge.
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 Cameron-legs,’’ 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 when I got out of the pool,’’ he recalls.
Every kick was agony, but his bravery went unrewarded when he finished outside the qualifying time.
His injury forced him to withdraw, but fortunately, he was granted an exemption for selection to Rio, his first Paralympics, because he had beaten the qualifying time consistently for a number of years.
Nelson’s blade runner, Liam Malone, also has experienced the crushing disappointment of ageing artificial limbs.
Last October, the double belowknee amputee competed in the IPC World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, with worn-out and delaminating carbon fibre racing blades, which slowed him down significantly.
‘‘I certainly would have done a lot better if I had newer blades.’’
It prompted him to email Iceland-based blade manufacturer Ossur for support. At the start of this year, the company made him a brand ambassador and gave him a new set of blades.
The difference was instant. ‘‘I took two seconds off my 400m time straight away. Your blades really define how fast you run.’’
The 22-year-old commerce student, who shifted to Auckland in April to train after two years at Wellington’s Victoria University, is unfazed by competing in his first Paralympics.
‘‘I don’t really get caught up with it being a big event. I’m just going to be running around in a circle in a different location.’’
Malone, who hopes New Zealand ingenuity will invent a better moniker for him than the Kiwi blade runner, was born with fibular hemimelia.
It is the same congenital condition as disgraced South African blade runner Oscar Pistorius, which involves a lack or shortening of the fibular bone in the person’s lower legs.
He had both his legs amputated below the knee at 18 months of age.
His journey to Rio started three years ago when he was struggling to cope with his mother’s death after a six-year battle with cancer.
‘‘In the construct of having a disability, Mum was that rock and helped to shape me. I was in a black hole of who I was and what I wanted to do.’’
Malone needed a new goal and an escape from mind-altering substances that were impacting on his physical and mental health.
After tossing around a range of options, including climbing Aoraki/Mt Cook, he picked training for the Paralympics, which his parents had often suggested as a youngster, but he had dismissed.
A public appeal raised the $20,000 for his first set of blades, which he started learning to use in early 2014.
No-one had run on blades in New Zealand previously, so it was a steep learning curve for him and his prosthetist.
‘‘Even though we did the moulds for my legs, the running itself has so many forces compared to a walking leg. My legs used to bleed like crazy and my stumps would swell up.’’
And no coaches had taught someone in New Zealand to run on blades.
‘‘I’ve always been on the back foot,’’ he says, laughing at his pun, ‘‘but it is what it is.’’
He persevered, buoyed by the fact New Zealanders donated their money to help him achieve his dream. ‘‘I’m incredibly grateful for the support from New Zealanders.
‘‘I can trust the new legs on the dance floor. On the old ones, you could end up on the floor. If you step wrong, you’re on the floor in a second. I’m not much of a dancer, but I might give it a go at Rio.’’ Cameron Leslie
Without their support, I wouldn’t be going to Rio.’’
He hopes his new blades will give him the midas touch, with his best chance at gold in the 400m.
If he does end up on the winner’s podium, the medal will join his mother’s necklace around his neck, which he always wears.
‘‘I certainly like to think what I’m doing now would make (my Mum) proud and it would make her laugh.’’
Innovative weight-lifting prosthetics have helped to improve two Dunedin-based para-athletes’ training for Rio. About three years ago, the Dunedin Limb Centre helped javelin thrower Holly Robinson to get an attachment for her training prosthetic arm so she could lift gym weights with both arms.
The Hokitika-born 21-year-old says it has enabled her to strengthen her upper body more evenly, particularly on her weaker left side.
It has improved her running and ability to generate more force for throwing.
‘‘I’m moving with both arms, not just one arm, and I’m using my left side a lot more.’’
She is confident that will translate into a medal-winning throw at Rio, her second Paralympics, and aims for a personal best of around 42m.
‘‘That will give me a very good chance of a medal. I’m a world No 1 at the moment. I want to prove myself. The way I see it, the medal is just an added bonus but you’ve got to focus on you.’’
Robinson dons a black silverferned handless prosthetic on her left arm for competing and has also tweaked its weight to improve her balance for throwing.
She and fellow Dunedin paraathlete Anna Grimaldi, 19, were both born minus a hand and lower forearm.
Grimaldi, who doesn’t wear an artificial limb to compete or in dayto-day life, noticed Robinson using her weight-lifting prosthetic arm in the gym and decided to get one too about 18 months ago.
The long jumper and runner is rapt with the improvement in her strength, including her back, arms and legs, which has boosted her sporting prowess.
‘‘I’ve been able to build strength all over my body, which has made it more even. I guess sport is about symmetry.
‘‘My coach strongly believes your arms control your legs, especially with running. If your arms aren’t driving forward, your legs aren’t driving as well either.’’
She can’t wait to compete in her first Paralympics and is aiming for a personal best, watched on by her parents and younger sister.
‘‘I’m so excited, I can’t quite believe it.
‘‘Four years ago when the London Paralympics were on, I wasn’t even training.
‘‘It’s been crazy.’’
Para-cyclists are also experiencing the added boost from hi-tech artificial limbs, including Wellington’s Kate Horan.
Her new artificial cycling leg has been credited with helping her to claim a world ranking in her track cycling event and a world record.
The 41-year-old, who was born missing a bone in her left lower leg, which was amputated below the knee as a child, has excelled in cycling since she switched from running about three years ago.
Rio will be her third Paralympics, following Athens in 2004 and winning 200m silver in Beijing in 2008.
She missed the London Games because she was breastfeeding her third child.
Her new leg was the result of a collaboration between the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service and Cycling New Zealand.
‘‘Without a doubt, the technology options available to Paralympians will have a direct impact on whether they can make it or not,’’ says the service’s chief executive, Sean Gray.
He has been firmly behind the push to ensure more Kiwis needing artificial limbs can access C-legs and other top technology, so hopes the Paralympians’ Rio medal haul reflects those benefits.
Leslie hopes he will get to stand tall proudly in his new legs on Rio’s dais as a fresh gold medal is placed around his neck.
And afterwards, he may brave it to celebrate his success for the first time on the dance floor.
‘‘I can trust the new legs on the dance floor. On the old ones, you could end up on the floor.
‘‘ If you step wrong, you’re on the floor in a second.
‘‘I’m not much of a dancer, but I might give it a go at Rio.’’