Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - London is the scene of a sport that will celebrate another set of accomplishments with the Paralympics Games currently underway.
One area woman has a very good reason to be following the games very closely.
Katie Maneen is like just about anyone else. She played sports in high school and she has been on the track team in college.
But Maneen has also been missing her lower right leg since birth. And she has never let that slow her down.
She couldn’t even imagine coming one step away from the Paralympics - she’s an alternate on this year’s team – until a year into her career as a javelin thrower.
"My sophomore year they were like, I want you to get a running leg. I was like, guys I don't run,” Maneen said.
Maneen always used to play sports with her walking leg, but she says the difference between using this and using the Cheetah - which she has now - is like me trying to run with a ski boot on.
"The first moment I just think I did a little jog and I was like, this is incredible, this is the closest I'm going to get to running with two real feet,” she said.
"She took off and ran up the street 50,60 yards and turned around and came back and sprinted at me and when she reached me on the way by said I can't stop,” said Mike Hall of Rehab Technologies.
In more ways than one, Maneen has never stopped. She has a pile of medals to show for it and even though she came up just short of London, she did record personal bests in the 100 and 200.
"I got a Facebook message from a mother whose son went to the same hospital as me and she was like, ‘I can show him this and I know he can do anything,’” she said.
The Cheetah has revolutionized Maneen’s performance over the last two years.
Maneen said her immediate goal is to run the Boilermaker. She hasn’t decided if she’ll try for the Paralympics again in Rio in four years.
