An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being...that is the true glory of sport.
Interpretation
The essence of sports lies in the emotional journey and human experiences, highlighting both victories and losses.
Aimee Mullins emphasizes that sports encapsulate the full spectrum of human emotionsβjoy, pain, success, and failure. The true glory of sport is found not just in winning, but in the shared experiences of teamwork and individual struggles, making athletes fundamentally human in their journeys.
In practice
During a motivational speech on the importance of teamwork in sports.
I'm not an advocate for disability issues. Human issues are what interest me. You can't possibly speak for a diverse group of people. I don't know what it's like to be an arm amputee, or have even one flesh-and-bone leg, or to have cerebral palsy.
I've had journalists asking me, 'What do we call you - is it handicapped, are you disabled, physically challenged?' I said, 'Well hopefully you could just call me Aimee. But if you have to describe it, I'm a bilateral below-the-knee amputee.'
I think that everyone has something about themselves that they feel is their weakness... their 'disability.' And I'm certain we all have one, because I think of a disability as being anything which undermines our belief and confidence in our own abilities.
I have learned not to overlook the advantages of being me. From when I was a softball player, and I held the stolen bases record. I would slide into second with my prostheses, and the girl on the base could either step aside or meet two wooden sticks.
In sports, I refused to do any interviews that were just going to become human-interest stories. Don't turn me into a tragic heroine.
I'm not an advocate for disability issues. Human issues are what interest me.
The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.
Can you do inter-gender matches? Ronda Rousey and our match at Wrestlemania - sure, it can be done. Women don't need a man in their match to steal the show. They just need an equal platform and opportunity, and if the women have it, they will work just as hard, if not harder, than anybody else to steal that show.
I don't need to come back to Wimbledon every year because I can't live without it. I'd be totally cool without tennis.
When you play against different people from all walks of life you can't do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player.
Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special.
A lot of people wish they could be in the house with the greatest of anything. I just so happened to live across the hall from absolutely, positively the greatest women's basketball player ever.
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