No hands no feet no limits.

• Author: Belleris, Christine
• Position: Athletic Arena - Tony Volpentest

AT 15 MONTHS OLD, Tony Volpentest pulled himself up and took his first steps in his family's suburban Seattle, Wash., living room, walking stiff-legged across the carpeted floor. While most parents consider this a milestone of child development, for Bill and Betty Volpentest, this simple act was nothing short of miraculous. Their son was born without hands and feet. Doctors thought he never would be able to walk without prosthetics.

He has been proving the experts wrong ever since--first walking unassisted, and eventually doing the unimaginable, becoming a world-class sprinter. Volpentest's drive and determination took him all the way to the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, Spain, where he earned Gold Medals in the 100- and 200-meter races and set world records with times of 11.63 seconds and 23.07 seconds, respectively. He was a repeat Gold Medalist in both those events at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and set another world record of 11.36 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

This year, Volpentest's accomplishments earned him a nomination into the Olympic Hall of Fame. Moreover, his memoir, Fastest Man in the World: The Tony Volpentest Story, should hit shelves this month, coinciding with the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.

Being born with partially formed limbs--all four have no extremities--affects one in 500,000 people, and does not even have a name. Volpentest's arms end above his wrists and his legs at his ankles. One leg is three inches shorter than the other. Doctors still do not know what caused his birth defect, but were so concerned about how his parents would react that they did not show him to his mother until 24 hours after his birth in 1972.

The Volpentests were unaffected, devoting their lives to him. They were given sage advice from a pediatrician who told them, "Tony can do everything every other kid can do. Do not let anyone intimidate you into thinking otherwise."

"Just because I didn't look like everyone else didn't mean I wasn't like everybody else--in every other way," explains Volpentest. "From the moment I was born, my parents' goal was to nurture my independence, allowing me to pursue a normal life."

This sense of normality included opting for a surgical procedure that would give him the "feeling" of a hand, rather than the cosmetic appeal of a myoelectric ann. The operation gave him "pincers" that were able to provide nerve sensation and the ability to grasp. "I never knew any other hands, so...