Archer With No Arms Wins Silver Medal at Paralympics (Video)

by Luke Hughes on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 11:55PM

The old expression “you’ve got hands like feet” is meant to be a knock on an athlete’s ability to effectively use the limbs. But for one paralympic athlete, his feet are, in fact, his greatest asset.

Matthew Stutzman, a 29-year-old archer from the United States, is competing for his home country in the 2012 Paralympic games in London. The catch, though, is that Stutzman has no arms.

Stutzman was born without arms, but he has overcome the unfortunate disability to achieve great things in his life. The greatest achievement of all, though, Stutzman was able to capture on Tuesday afternoon as he won a silver medal in the competition.

How does Stutzman even compete in the competition if he has no arms, you ask? Well, the talented athlete uses both of his feet as well as his teeth to control the entire procedure. First he uses his left foot to carefully place the arrow then aims the bow with his extended right foot for optimum accuracy. Stutzman then proceeds to bend his body so he pull back on the string with his teeth before letting go towards the target. It’s really an impressive feat to watch, and something you can check out in the video below.

Although Stutzman was unable to capture the gold medal in the event — a distinction that went to an archer from Finland — he remained proud of the accomplishment and was all smiles afterward.

“I hope that America is proud of me,” Stutzman said in an interview after winning the medal.

Check out highlights from Stutzman and a number of other Paralympic archers from Wednesday’s competition.

Photo of the Night

Darren McFadden, Cam Newton and Rob Gronkowski? By the looks of it, I’d say Justin Verlander‘s fantasy football team is stacked.

Photo via Twitter/@JustinVerlander

Tweet of the Night

Definitely buying a dog and a six pack on the way home.

It’s Sept. 4 and the Baltimore Orioles are in 1st place. In related news, dogs now speak French and doctors say beer makes you live forever.

— Jason Gay (@jasonWSJ) September 5, 2012

Quote of the Night

“They are scabs … they’re incompetent … I’m worried
about the health and safety of a lot of players because these
[replacement referees have] never even done college[-level] games.”
– Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, on replacement refs in the NFL