PARIS (AFP) – When John McFall, the world’s first parastronaut, carried the Paralympic flag at the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris Wednesday, he knew he was sending a “powerful message”. The 43-year-old Briton had his right leg amputated below the knee after a motorcycle crash in Thailand when he was 19, before becoming a surgeon himself and winning a bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Two years ago the European Space Agency (ESA) recruited him as their first astronaut with a physical disability.
“Astronauts are envoys of humanity,” he told AFP. So for “someone with a physical disability to reach this pinnacle is a powerful message for humanity.” It says “‘Listen, this is possible,'” he added.
A keen runner and hockey player before his accident, McFall only became a top-level athlete after losing his lower leg. He quickly embraced paralympic sport, working at the Athens Games in 2004. Four years later, he was one of the stars of Beijing after becoming world 100 metres champion in 2007.
The growing popularity of the Paralympic Games reflects a paradigm shift in attitudes towards disabilities, the sprinter said. “People still find (disability) new and different..
. but people notice in a different way because the way they frame disability now is different,” said McFall, who recalled watching the 2000 Games in Sydney after his accident. “It’s more normal — this is a tough word, right,” he joked.
McFall is a pow.