Proactive Prosthetics are delighted to announce their support of Paralympian Stefanie Reid. Over the run-up to 2012 Richard Nieveen, Prosthetist will work with Stefanie to develop the best prosthetic sports limb to support Stefanie’s bid for a medal in the 2012 Paralympic games.
Stefanie grew up as an active, sporty teenager. She was passionate about rugby and planned to join the national team. But at 16, her life changed forever when she lost part of her leg in a boating accident.
Four years later, while watching the elite athletes training at Queen’s University in Toronto, she knew she wanted to try running again. Adjusting to her new running prosthesis and increasing her training times paid off when she won a place in the university’s varsity team.
In 2006, after representing Canada at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, UK and the IPC World Athletics Championships in the Netherlands, Stefanie made the decision to begin training full-time and devote everything to her sport.
Stefanie says her experience at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games taught her a lot about competing in front of huge crowds. She finished a disappointing fifth in the long jump, but made a great come back and won bronze in the 200m sprint final.
Her favourite quote from the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, is etched onto her running prosthetic: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Follow Stefanie’s progress on our website and on her website www.paralympians.com.