Monique Van Der Awesome

December 8, 2011 3:01 PM

Monique van der Vorst has won two silver medals in the Paralympics for Handcycling. She was the first handcycle athlete to win the 2009 Ironman world championship. But after being struck by a bike while training in 2010 she began doing something she had not done since she was 13: walking. Not only is she walking but she is eyeing the 2016 Olympics where she hopes to compete as a cyclist.
posted by munchingzombie (18 comments total)

Warning: Rabbit-earing the brain's circuitry is highly irreproducible. Please do not try ever.
posted by Slackermagee at 3:06 PM on December 8, 2011

brain => general neuronal circuitry
posted by Slackermagee at 3:07 PM on December 8, 2011

Man, she has been in a lot of accidents. Read her "About" section.
posted by resurrexit at 3:17 PM on December 8, 2011

Rather accident-prone it seems. It's a bit hard to follow but she has been in 3? major accidents.
posted by unliteral at 3:18 PM on December 8, 2011

Some believe the trauma of her last accident may have jolted her body back into activity.

Kids, don't try this at home.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:33 PM on December 8, 2011

If I'm reading it right, unliteral, its four accidents: in 1998, 2007, 2008 and 2010. No cause mentioned for the one in 1998, but all of the others were careless drivers who all hit her.

(Pardon my scepticism, but its never her fault?)
posted by easily confused at 3:35 PM on December 8, 2011

I wouldn't have spent so much effort trying not to run into people with my bike if I'd known that it would impart this kind of life-changing benefit. Next time I see someone crossing an intersection in a wheelchair, I'm aiming right for the L3. They'll thank me later, I'm sure. Shoot, this could be a whole new career for me.
More seriously, as much as I like cycling, if I'd been chair-bound for some years and suddenly regained the use of my legs in a freak accident, I'm not sure I'd be so quick to jump into a pro racing career. The idea that she'd even consider it is a testament to her character, given the atrophy that must have taken place and the hideous effort that such a move will require. At the same time, taking into account her history of road accidents and spinal injuries, it seems like a good way to end up back in a wheelchair before too long.
From the Olympian point of view, though, I guess that'd just sound like loser talk.
posted by $0up at 3:38 PM on December 8, 2011

Some believe the trauma of her last accident may have jolted her body back into activity.

Cathrine: "You remember Ruby Sue?"
Frances: "Oh yeah. Oh my gosh, her eys aren't crossed anymore!"
Eddie: "That's something ain't it? She falls in a well, eyes go crossed. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back to normal. I don't know."
posted by FatherDagon at 3:44 PM on December 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

If I'm reading it right, unliteral, its four accidents: in 1998, 2007, 2008 and 2010. No cause mentioned for the one in 1998, but all of the others were careless drivers who all hit her.

(Pardon my scepticism, but its never her fault?)

Try bicycling around in traffic for a while and then come back and tell us how unrealistic that sounds. If she was on a hand-bike then she'd be even lower-profile then on a normal bike.
posted by delmoi at 3:49 PM on December 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

My friends who cycle competitively have all been in accidents before. I casually bike and I have been in accidents. Just imagine how much you have to bike to be an olympic athlete. So, it really doesn't seem odd.
posted by munchingzombie at 3:57 PM on December 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Accidents, hell. I have a friend who race-trained in Missouri and was deliberately run off the road by yahoos in pickups several times. Riding a bike makes you a "faggot" in Confederate-bumper-sticker land.
posted by Fnarf at 4:04 PM on December 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

delmoi: I understand the bike/car thing, but these accidents? at least for the 2007, 2008 and 2010 accidents, she was riding in or driving cars herself when she was hit by other cars.
posted by easily confused at 4:08 PM on December 8, 2011

I've been hit by cars on my pedal bike 3 times, and twice on my motorcycle. One woman in a Mercedes SUV deliberately drove right over me at a light after it changed to green, as "I was in her way" and she was "in a hurry". She genuinely couldn't understand why people chased her down and stopped her after she did this. Cagers are idiots.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:09 PM on December 8, 2011

Cagers are idiots.

As a cager, and a motorcyclist, and a bicyclist, and a pedestrian: Some people are idiots. Derail over, let's move on.
posted by davejay at 4:13 PM on December 8, 2011 [10 favorites]

You would think an athlete would be more likely to go from regular Olympics to Paralympics if they were going switch. But to go the other way? That's a heck of an amazing life she's living!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 4:29 PM on December 8, 2011

Whoah, that's some crazy stuff!

Lucky day. Bet people hardly ever think that after an accident.
posted by thelastcamel at 5:06 PM on December 8, 2011

That "About" page is pretty jumbled — goes from third person to first person without warning, and sounds like there's at least one more accident than actually happened. Anyway, here's a reputable report about the 2010 "miracle" accident that apparently got her walking again. And here's Part I of an interview with her about it. This makes clear that 1998 was not an accident — what put her in a wheelchair was the effects of dystrophy. Part II of same interview.
posted by beagle at 5:31 PM on December 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Percussive maintenance works on people now?
posted by jacquilynne at 6:32 AM on December 10, 2011 [1 favorite]