Againts All Odds
Christopher Brodie is this morning
celebrating his gold medal success in the paralympics 100m sprint.
Yesterday, in the packed stadium in
Sydney, Australia, where the games have been taking place all week, Chris ran
the race of his life to cross the line in the gold medal position.
For any athlete a championship medal is
the ultimate achievement, but for Chris it was also the culmination of years of
determination and courage.The 20 year old was just 5 when he had to have his
right leg amputated below the knee. The pain caused by his artificial leg was
mot enough to stop the lively youngster from Motherwell running around living
life to the full.
When he joined the local athletics club
he never dreamt that he would end up an Olympic champion.
Now, thanks to the pioneering work of
sports scientists and the doctors at Glasgow’s St Thomas’ Hospital, Chris has
been able to take advantage of the latest sports technology, a new prosthetic
sports leg.
“The new leg is made of light weight
materials and the foot section has as close to normal foot movement as an
artificial leg can get,” said Ken Brown, one of the doctors who worked on the
project. Chris backed up Dr. Brown’s claim when he said that the new leg
allowed for fluid movement and a much less cumbersome running style.
Certainly, the benefits the artificial
leg will bring to sports women and men all over the world could be seen
yesterday in Sydney, when Chris Brodie showed the world what a powerful
combination courage and innovation can be.
Moto
GP: Valentino Rossi penalised for kicking Marc Marquez
MotoGP
championship leader Valentino Rossi will start the final race of the season
from the back of the grid after kicking Marc Marquez off his bike during the
Malaysian Grand Prix.
Rossi finished third but was given three
penalty points following a post-race investigation.
He later accused Marquez of "making
me lose the championship".
Honda's Dani Pedrosa won the race, with
Jorge Lorenzo second. The final race takes place in Spain on 8 November.
Rossi now leads Lorenzo by just seven
points in the championship.
The Italian, whose team Yamaha have said
they will appeal against the sanction, said Spain's Marquez "rode only to
cause me problems".
The
incident happened on lap 13 of 20 after Rossi
had gestured at Marquez following an overtaking move.
"Unfortunately, I lose a lot of
time with Marc," the Italian explained. "And in turn 14, I tried to
go a bit wide to take a better line and make him slow.
"He came to me and I think he
crashed in that moment. His handlebar touched my foot and my foot slipped off,
a bike can't crash only with a touch.
"He has won his fight, he made me
lose the championship."
But Spaniard Lorenzo had called for
Rossi to be punished, adding: "It's clear that he took Marquez off."
Before the race Rossi, 36, accused
Marquez of deliberately trying to impede him during Australian Grand Prix on 18
October in order to help Lorenzo.
"Marquez did not play with both of
us, he played only with me," Rossi said.
"He isn't playing fair. He would
prefer Lorenzo to win. He is angry at me for a personal matter."
MotoGP race director Mike Webb said:
"It's irresponsible riding causing a crash and for that we have imposed
three penalties points on Rossi."
Rossi's lead means he will definitely
win the title if he can finish in the top two in Malaysia, while Lorenzo must
finish at least eighth to have any chance of depriving him.
Rossi is seeking his seventh MotoGP
title, while 28-year-old Lorenzo is trying to win his third.
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