Team USA Paralympic Snowboarder Overcomes a Mountain of Challenges in his Pursuit for Gold
After a snowmobile accident during a professional competition in 2008 resulted in the amputation of his leg, Mike Schultz knew there was only one thing to do: find a way to continue competing in the sports that he loves. Ten years later, Mike is now a first-time Team USA and Paralympic Snowboarder. Schultz joined us to share more about his story and what motivates him to get up and get started each day.
In order for Schultz to continue to compete, he had to create the prosthetic knee and foot. Schultz set out to design a better leg to get back into action. He then went to LA for the X Games and came home with a silver medal. Dirt bike and snowmobiles weren’t enough. As a para-athlete, he taught himself to snowboard, and now finds himself representing Team USA as a top contender for gold in the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
Initially, Schultz developed the prosthetic leg for himself. After realizing there was demand from other adaptive athletes, he started his own company, called Biodapt. The company supplied the entire U.S. para-snowboard team with equipment for lower-limb amputees.
Five women have been named to the U.S. short-track speedskating team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Among those five, there was only one returning Olympian of the group, Maame Biney, who competed in the 2018 Olympics as the first African-American woman to ever qualify for the U.S. short-track speedskating team. JD sat down with Biney to discuss how she's preparing for the games.
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