Blake Leeper Shows Inner Strength in New Motivational Video
The star runner shares his story of overcoming.
Blake Leeper, the Paralympic track star who’s aiming to compete in the 2016 Olympics, recently teamed up with Nike to produce a motivational training video titled “Inner Strength.”
Leeper is a bilateral below-knee amputee due to a congenital birth defect. A natural athlete, Leeper grew up playing baseball and competed on his high school varsity basketball team in Tennessee using prosthetic walking legs. It wasn’t until later in college, though, that he was awarded a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation for prosthetic running blades. His track stardom soon followed.
At the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Leeper won silver in the 400-meter T44 event (Oscar Pistorius won gold) and bronze in the 200 meters. He’s now aiming to compete in the 400 at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro alongside able-bodied athletes. If he makes it, he’ll be the first American double amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympic Games. He’ll also be the fastest man in the world with no legs.
The entire look at Leeper’s training regimen can be found on the Nike website.