Paralympic gold medallist Martina Caironi talks about her perceived weakness became her greatest strength.

Imagine:
you are 18 years old and out having fun with your friends. On your way home, you are the victim of a hit and run. As a result, you lose a leg.

This is the beginning of Martina Caironi’s story. It is a story of pain, courage, strength and rebirth; a story that has inspired and continues to inspire people to fight for themselves and their future. I spoke to Martina who explained how her life was transformed that fateful night, ultimately for the best.

After losing her left leg above the knee, she admits that she felt lost. For a while, the joy and light-heartedness of youth was sucked out of her. Then, gradually, her perception changed and she came realise how lucky she was to have survived the accident. From then on her views on life and the world flipped completely. She saw for the first time the real value of what she had and started appreciating even the small things, taking nothing for granted.

“From that moment and situation”, Martina explains “it was only possible to move forward with my life”, and goes on to elaborate that this meant being aware of all those positive things around her and building something with what she had. She began to appreciate that living in a developed country (Italy) she has opportunities to study, work and to puruse her dreams and her interests. Her good fortune was that she had both the will and the freedom to decide what her life was going to be.

She took up sport which she had always liked (she had been a member of a volleyball team) and her fight back to life and independence was built around it.

Two and a half years after her accident she participated in a shot put competition. In doing so she met many people with disabilities who felt good about themselves and who lived well with their disabilities. It was at that moment that her negative prejudices and opinions of disability (in spite of herself) dissolved and she began differentiating the person and the disability.

After this first race, Martina enthusiastically pushed on with athletic competitions; her strong will and courage earned her a place at the London Paralympics in 2012 where she won the gold medal for the 100 metres and beat the previous 16-second world record. She also competed in the 200 metres and the long jump.

With the Rio Paralympics now in sight she is training hard and aims to improve her results both in the 100 metres and in the long jump. Regardless of the results however, Martina feels her greatest victory is always going to the competition itself and that she had the courage and determination to take part. And as a bonus, she adds, she’s always wanted to visit South America.

She concludes our conversation by saying

“Open your eyes to your daily life and try not to see your variable X as a difficulty to overcome, painful as it may be. It can become something beautiful, something positive”.

Paralympic gold medallist Martina Caironi talks about her perceived weakness became her greatest strength.

Replies to This Discussion