Name: 【TED】Aimee Mullins: Changing my legs - and my mindset (Aimee Mullins: Changing my legs - and my mindset)
Uploaded: 2016-06-27T21:59:59.000Z
Duration: 20 min 44 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Sheryl Shade: Hi, Aimee. Aimee Mullins: Hi.

Past simple

SS: Aimee and I thought we'd just talk a little bit,

To-infinitive

and I wanted her to tell all of you what makes her a distinctive athlete.

AM: Well, for those of you who have seen the picture in the little bio --

I'm a double amputee, and I was born without fibulas in both legs.

and I've been running like hell ever since, all over the place.

SS: Well, why don't you tell them how you got to Georgetown -- why don't we start there?

AM: I'm a senior in Georgetown in the Foreign Service program.

I won a full academic scholarship out of high school.

They pick three students out of the nation every year

to get involved in international affairs,

and I've been there for four years. Love it.

she decided that she's, kind of, curious about track and field,

so she decided to call someone and start asking about it.

AM: Yeah. Well, I guess I've always been involved in sports.

I played softball for five years growing up.

I skied competitively throughout high school,

because I wasn't doing anything for about a year or two sports-wise.

And I'd never competed on a disabled level, you know --

I'd always competed against other able-bodied athletes.

In fact, I'd never even met another amputee until I was 17.

And I heard that they do these track meets with all disabled runners,

and I figured, "Oh, I don't know about this,

but before I judge it, let me go see what it's all about."

So, I booked myself a flight to Boston in '95, 19 years old

and definitely the dark horse candidate at this race. I'd never done it before.

I went out on a gravel track a couple of weeks before this meet

and about 50 meters was enough for me, panting and heaving.

a wood and plastic compound, attached with Velcro straps --

you know, not the most comfortable things, but all I'd ever known.

And I'm up there in Boston against people

wearing legs made of all things -- carbon graphite

and, you know, shock absorbers in them and all sorts of things --

OK, we know who's not going to win this race.

And, I mean, I went up there expecting --

but, you know, when I saw a man who was missing an entire leg

go up to the high jump, hop on one leg to the high jump

Dan O'Brien jumped 5'11" in '96 in Atlanta,

I mean, if it just gives you a comparison of --

And so I decided to give this a shot: heart pounding,

I ran my first race and I beat the national record-holder

and became the new national record-holder on my first try out.

"Aimee, you know, you've got speed -- you've got natural speed --

but you don't have any skill or finesse going down that track.

And so I decided to call the track coach at Georgetown.

And I thank god I didn't know just how huge this man is in the track and field world.

the man's office is lined from floor to ceiling

And I called him up and said, "Listen, I ran one race and I won ..."

I need to just see if I can sit in on some of your practices,

That's all I wanted -- just two practices.

And he said, "Well, we should meet first, before we decide anything."

You know, he's thinking, "What am I getting myself into?"

and saw these posters and magazine covers of people he has coached.

and it turned out to be a great partnership

because he'd never coached a disabled athlete,

so therefore he had no preconceived notions

So this was like, "Here we go -- let's start on this trip."

So he started giving me four days a week of his lunch break,

his free time, and I would come up to the track and train with him.

That was fall of '95. But then, by the time that winter was rolling around,

You can run on our women's track team here."

You can run with our women's track team."

In the spring of 1996, with my goal of making the U.S. Paralympic team

that May coming up full speed, I joined the women's track team.