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Glory days at 2010 Paralympic Games 

By Anna Sarkissian

Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli slid across the stage and started doing pushups with his legs raised high in the air as the 60 000 people in attendance watched in amazement.

For those who find pushups challenging with feet firmly on the ground, his movements defied gravity and logic.

The 25-year-old marketing graduate performed last Friday at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver and now has everybody talking.

“My dreams are coming true,” he said, still unable to digest the experience. “It was life-changing.”

Patuelli was born with arthrogyrposis, a muscle disorder that limits motion in the joints. He started using crutches at the age of three. By eight, he developed scoliosis. He’s had 16 operations on his legs and spine.

As a toddler, Patuelli started doing pushups with his legs up just like the ones he performed at BC Place Stadium. It was never meant to be a breakdance move.

“Once I integrated it into dancing, people freaked out,” he said. He stuck with it, developed his skills and the rest is history.

In the past few years, he appeared on America’s Got Talent, NBC’s Today Show and MuchMusic, to name a few. Just last week the Canadian Press picked up his story and dispatched it across the country.

The attention is not going to his head though. Patuelli is an all-around nice guy who shares his message internationally as a motivational speaker.

“I didn’t grow up thinking I had a disability. It never came across to me that I was limited in any sense,” he said. “I’m only disabled if I let myself think I’m disabled.”

While the opening ceremonies were his time to shine, he’s not the only Concordian participating in the games. Skier Arly Fogarty is representing Canada in four events, the slalom, giant slalom, super-g (super giant slalom) and super combined.

She put her degree in international business on hold in 2004 to try out for the paralympic team for Torino – she plans to resume taking classes soon.

Her time away from university was put to good use; she’s been travelling the world and competing. Speed events are not for the faint of heart and Fogarty races without poles. Holt-Oram syndrome, a congenital birth defect, affects her heart and her arms.

At the 2006 Paralympic Games, she placed tenth and eleventh in the super-g and downhill events respectively. She joined the International Paralympic Committee World Cup Tour, placing fourth in the giant slalom in Canada, the United States, and Korea and third in Austria.

Catch a YouTube clip of Lazylegz in all his glory. Follow Fogarty’s progress here.