April Holmes Inspires Both on and Off the Track

Posted by Andrew Leibs Nov 10, 2008

I’ve never yelled at my TV watching a track race until yesterday, when I saw US Paralympian April Holmes lunge to a photo-finish victory in the 100-meters.

Holmes is the world’s fastest amputee, the face of US Paralympics, a seminal figure in the disability sports movement, and was the lead story in a 90-minute documentary on the 2008 Beijing games that ran Sunday on NBC.

Holmes is smoking the field, surging to victory in the 200 final, only to stub her spike on her prosthetic foot and fall. No commentary from the booth, no replay, just a sublime image: Dan Jansen with a bloody face (stepped on by a competitor), getting up and finishing.

Her demeanor betrayed no disappointment, frustration, or regret. I was amazed, though less surprised as her story unfolded: April with schoolchildren, removing her leg to pass around, a gesture whose shock quickly dissipates through her supreme confidence…April putting her arm around a child with cerebral palsy, wanting him to know that the 2016 Paralympics are out there for him.

When she jumps to a lead in the 100 final, then fades, then resurges at the finish, leaning with three others, the heart jumps, the voice cries out. I yelled at the screen, “Oh my God—come on!” I never wanted anyone to win so badly: there are many elite athletes, many role models, many indomitable competitors, but very few like April Holmes, whose magnanimity lifts others up.

The NBC documentary, narrated by Bob Costas, kicked off an unprecedented 28 hours of Paralympic event coverage on Universal Sports airing November 10-16.