Man Without Arms Wins 4 Golds at Paralympics in Swimming Competition, Tells Daughter He Made It Without Hands
- A 30-year-old armless man, Zheng Tao, has broken a record at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Paralympic competition
- Zheng won a total of four gold medals, bringing his overall career medal wins to a great number of nine
- Immediately after winning his last swimming contest, he video-called his daughter and told her he did it despite not having hands
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A man without arms, Zheng Tao, has dominated the Paralympic swimming games going on in Tokyo as he won a total number of four golds.
BBC reports that after winning the medals at the contest, he told his daughter in a video message:
“Daughter, look at me - I can swim so fast even though I don’t have arms!”
No regrets
The man dominated in areas like freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly even though he lost both his arms to an electric shock as a child.
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After his win on Wednesday, September 1, the man said he gave the competition his best shot and there were no regrets.
A world record set
The same media gathered that to prepare for the competition, the man had to swim at least 10km daily. It should be noted that the 30-year-old man started swimming at the young teenage age of 13.
Zheng has so far won a total number of nine Paralympic medals in his career as a professional swimmer. Daily Mail reports that the man set a record in the 50m backstroke contest on Monday, August 30.
He is an inspiration
Below are some of the reactions his post got when it was posted on Instagram:
a.yxx2006 said:
"Incredible. May God bless him. He is amazing. He has superhuman power."
Man lost both legs as a kid, his rich parents spent R359k to get him prosthetics, he now helps children
jaquelinacarinafortes said:
"Zheng Tao you are great."
officer_125yt said:
"Just wow it’s all in the mind you can do anything if you put your mind to it."
solitude._.spirit said:
"If you think you are useless just think about this guy."
joeycmh said:
"Meanwhile, I can’t even swim for 10meters lol."
iamgauravrawat14 said:
"This guy inspires so many people."
samuel_surmik said:
"Now with all seriousness, how'd he do the butterfly and also, perhaps the backstroke. Do you not need hand for those?"
Another talented athlete
Meanwhile, Briefly News earlier reported that Ibrahim Hamadtou who lost both his arms in an accident when he was 10 years old was another athlete at the competition that caught people's attention.
To compete and mesmerize the audience at the competition, the man had trained his mouth to serve as his hands for the table tennis sport.
During the game, he took the opponent’s service with the use of his mouth. To serve, he used his leg to launch the ball forward.
Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Thando Mpembe Thando Mpembe is a sports journalist who has a passion for all things entertainment. In her spare time, Thando enjoys reading and spending time with family. She is an advocate for mental health and believes that a healthy body starts with a healthy mind. Thando holds an Honours Degree in Journalism from the University of Johannesburg. Her favourite quote is "Gentle reminder - you are not for everyone and that is a blessing". Email: thando.mpembe@briefly.co.za