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By Michele Antonio
  Sarah Reinertsen, the first amputee
woman to compete in CBS-TV’s “The Amazing Race” was in October
in Kuwait City, Kuwait after an impressive start.
“It’s a bummer, especially since we rocked in the other
cities,” she said the day after she and her partner, Peter Harsch, were
eliminated.“But the race is one-third physical, one third mental and
one-third bad luck. At least we were eliminated due to bad luck instead of poor
performance.”
Reinertsen is a former Huntington, N.Y., native who had
her left leg amputated when she was seven years old. She was born with proximal
femoral focal deficiency, a rare birth defect resulting in a deformed hip and a
shortened leg. The decision to amputate came after seven years using a leg
brace.
In addition to the “Amazing Race”, she was the first
amputee woman to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in October
2005, and has a number of athletic accomplishments including world records in
the half marathon (2:12) and the marathon (5:27) for above-knee amputee women.
She has conquered seven marathons and was the youngest member of the 1992 U.S.
Paralympics team to go to Barcelona.
As a child, she competed in the Empire State
Games for the Physically Challenged. She credits those games as the starting
point to her athletic career.
“That was the first time I met people
just like me who were my age,” she said. “It wasn’t like gym
where I was always picked last or like the Special Olympics where you get a
medal just for showing up.
That’s okay, but I wanted the chance to compete, to
tap into that experience. I applaud the New York games for what they did. It
was unique.”
Another
participant of the games, Eddie McGee, also went on to reality television fame,
winning “Big Brother” in 2000.
“Starting out in the [Empire
State] games was great for me,” said McGee. “It taught me how to be a
better competitor, how to respect myself and my opponent. I was lucky to have
been involved in the games. The wonderful experiences I had then helped me in
all aspects of life.”
“I distinctly remember Sarah and Eddie from the
games,” said former Games Director Susan Gordon Ryan. “They were both
gifted athletes who shared their wisdom and enthusiasm with the other children.
I am not surprised that they both landed on TV, because they always had that
star quality.
Reinertsen believes that her drive to compete came shortly after her
amputation when she joined an able-bodied soccer team. The coach, a medical
doctor, suggested she kick a ball against a wall rather than participate with
the team. Her parents encouraged her to prove him wrong and eventually she
played on the team.
Her
mother, Solveig Fuentes, agrees with her daughter that the soccer coach
experience was a watershed moment in her daughter’s life.
“I think
her drive started then. I brought her up by saying, ‘Sarah try’. I
love her determination and ‘don’t quit’ attitude,” said
Fuentes.
Now that “The Amazing Race” is behind her, Reinertsen will
resume her job as marketing manager for Ossur Prosthetics and her duties as the
national spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation
(CAF).
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