The struggle of Olympians, let alone Paralympians, to fund their dreams is well chronicled and often heartbreaking. A life spent training to be the best athlete in the world doesn't often allow for other pursuits, particularly another job.
So Japanese sprinter Maya Nakanishi decided to get creative and put herself out there, both literally and figuratively, with a calendar of semi-nude shots with her prosthetic leg that she's selling to raise money for her training and trip to the London Paralympic Games.
Nakanishi lost the lower half of her leg in a work accident that involved a steel beam when she was just 21. She turned in the face of adversity by embracing sprinting, and using the prosthetic limb. And she's been quite successful in her short career. She's the Asian record holder in the 200-meter and the long jump. She was also the first Japanese woman to race in the 100-meter finals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
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