Wrestler with almost no arms or legs
Dustin Carter is a high school wrestler from Hillsboro, Ohio. He doesn't have much in the way of arms or legs. This year, Carter made it all the way to the state wrestling championships.
Link to YouTube video of a match, Link and Link to Cincinnati Enquirer coverage (Thanks, Rick Pescovitz!)
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Hillsboro, Ohio.
I have driven through Hillsboro a few times. Columbus to Ripley. I believe that town has about a 50% chance of making my car break down. Yep. I don't drive through it any more. Of course, I don't live in Ohio anymore either. Sigh.
Wow. You really gotta give this guy a hand.
oh AXX that was a low blow on the humour chart.
i bet he makes for a great breakdancer though!
[so what who said i cant make a little of colour humour either..]
Cool stuff. This is an exceptional story, and as a former high school wrestler, I have a few thoughts about his situation. This analysis is not meant to take away from his story at all, it is still very inspiring. Dustin may actually have an advantage because of his disability rather than in spite of it. Wrestler's are divided into weight classes (ie 103 lbs and under, 112 lbs and under, etc.) so that matches are balanced. I just checked elsewhere and Dustin is in the 103 class, which is the lightest category. This means that although he is missing much of his limbs, his body can have a much, much higher proportion of muscle than his opponents. If you look at the video, his torso and arms are much thicker than his opponents. If his opponent were that strong, it would bump him up to the next weight class. Also, wrestler's are trained in specific moves, and most of those moves involve grabbing hold of the opponent's arms/legs, often around joints. His opponents will be forced to improvise as most of their well-practiced moves cannot be executed. This is the same reason why a whole bunch of high-level fencers are left-handed - most righties are unused to fencing lefties while lefties are very experienced against righties. The main disadvantage he has is lack of leverage. That would definitely take some skill to work around, as most successful wrestlers use make very good use of all the leverage they can get.
Thanks for the excellent comments, Christovir!
Isn't that an Adam Green song?
Yeah! Yeah, it is!
Not to belittle the guy's talent, but I can imagine his opponents being a bit intimidated and/or psyched out by the idea of wrestling a guy with his physique. I'm sure that helps his chances a bit.
@ Christovir:
That was my thought, too. I didn't think of his opponents' inexperience wrestling someone with no joints, but I also thought about the muscle mass/weight class advantage. And wouldn't he also have an advantage in that his outermost extremities are 50% closer to his centre of gravity than those of a normally abled wrester? Add this to the advantage of having no joints for your opponent to grab...
It's a universal faux pas to diminish the acheivements of the disabled, so here's my disclaimer that it's inspiring to see someone find a way to turn his disability into an advantage. However, I can't help but wonder how far he'll be allowed to go in his sport before his opponents begin to take issue with his natural advantage. On one hand I think it'd be a meaningful achievement for a disabled person to overcome the odds stacked against him and win an Olympic gold medal against non-disabled competitors in his sport. On the other hand, aren't those odds stacked *for* him in wrestling? Are we only allowing him to exploit his advantage in his chosen sport as compensation for his disadvantages in other areas of life?
They could've used him on the set of The Philadelphia Experiment.
@ #8 SXE
It might happen eventually. But really, who wants to be the first to go on record to complain about how lucky the guy with no limbs is?
I think the point of him choosing wrestling and being competitive in it is that his disadvantages are at least somewhat offset by the advantages his disabilities give him in this particular sport. Weight class, lack of normal leverage points, and low center of gravity all work to his advantage. But he still suffers from his normal disabilities to maneuver and grasp. Maybe it all comes out even. In any case, it's obvious he's taken what he has and has applied himself to do the best he can with it. I really admire the guy.
@ #10:
This sounds like a job for Geraldene Ferraro!
On a less snarky and more on topic note, there is a paraplegic runner fighting for his right to compete in the olympics with his carbon fiber prosthetic legs.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/14/business/track.php
There are concerns whether they confer advantages over more typically configured runners.
Incredible. It's an interesting discussion about whether or not he has an advantage. I say it's even steven; not having arms or legs means your opponent has a harder time to grab you and flip your or control you but at the same time you don't have hands or feet to help you balance or grab your opponent in return. His higher muscle to weight ratio and lower center of gravity would be an advantage mostly in defensive positions but in order to attack your opponent, wouldn't arms/hands and legs/feet be major assets? Again, not a wrestler so I don't know.
Watching the video it's very clear that he's not only fending off his opponent but basically attacking him at will. I'm not a wrestler so I don't know much about the sport but I would think that it takes an incredible amount of strength to hold a person down without any appendages.
I'm going to go and do some pushups now.
Ehh, e's armless.