Sports and Adventure

Mark Pollock

Mark Pollock (born 1976) is an adventurer, athlete, rower, kayaker, author and international motivational speaker from Northern Ireland who became the first blind man to reach the South Pole. As part of a three-man team called South Pole Flag, alongside Simon O'Donnell and Inge Solheim he took just over three weeks in January 2009 to complete the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race to his destination. Pollock admitted his disability had slowed him down but they finished fifth overall from six teams.

Derek Rabelo

Derek Rabelo isn’t your average surfer. In a sport that requires agility, strength and a keen observation, Derek inspired some of the greatest surfers in the world when he conquered 'Pipeline' one of the most dangerous surfing circuits in Brazil. Derek was born with congenital glaucoma, which left him legally blind. But that didn’t stop the 20-year-old Brazilian from learning to surf when he was just three years old.

Marla Runyan

When at age 9, Marla Runyan developed Stargardt's Disease, a form of macular degeneration that left her legally blind, she promised not let the disease hold her back in life. Her doctors had very low expectations for her future, predicting that she would never get above a “C” in school, learn to drive, or go to college.

Ping Yali

A Paralympic Gold Medalist

Champions come and go, but little do we remember the glorious winners of the past. Ping Yali is one among them.

Ping not only was the reason for the Chinese national flag to be hoisted for the first time at a Paralympics field but she was the first ever Chinese citizen to win the Paralympic Gold, even before Xu Haifeng, who won it almost a month later at the Olympics.

Marla Runyan

Athlete

Visual impairment : Blind since nine years

Heinrich Wagner

An adventurer and
a motivational speaker

Visual impairment : Blind since birth

“It is better to be blind and have vision, than to be able to see and have none”, says Hein Wagner.

George Mendoza

An athlete and also an artist, author, and motivational speaker.

Visual impairment: Due to damaged nerves of the retina.

Born: 1955.

This is the story of a man who challenged his fate to become a distinguished painter, an Olympic participant, an inspirational speaker, a published writer, and most importantly, a man who is not defined by his limitations but his achievements. He is George Mendoza from USA.

Erik Weihenmayer

Erik was born on 1968, with retinoscheses, and was completely blind by the age of 13 due to glaucoma.

He speaks movingly of the role his family played in breaking through the barriers of blindness: his mother, who prayed for the miracle that would restore his son’s sight and his father, who encouraged him to strive for that unreachable peak. Erik recalls his struggles to push past the limits placed before him, by seeing the world as much as by his blindness.

Enrique Oliu

Baseball Commentator

Visual impairment : Blind since birth

Enrique Oliu, excels at a job that most people would assume is impossible for a blind man. He describes a game he cannot see. Enrique is blind.

He grew up listening to baseball on the radio in his native country of Nicaragua in South America. Baseball is Nicaragua’s national sport and Enrique’s father was an avid fan.

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