by Garrett Ross

Nearly 15 years to the day he lost his legs in an auto racing crash in Germany, Italian athlete Alex Zanardi captured a gold medal Wednesday at the Rio Paralympics. Competing in the men's road hand-cycling time trial, Zanardi won in a time of 28 minutes, 36.81 seconds, ahead of Stuart Tripp of Australia and Oscar Sanchez of the United States.

On Sept. 15, 2001, Zanardi was nearing the end of the American Memorial 500, a CART race, when his car was struck hard by another as he tried to merge back onto the track from pit row. Both of his legs were amputated above the knee. "At the time, I was asked if I would ever step back in a race car, but what was very important for me was to go into the bathroom and pee on my own, but I could not do that. I had to be helped. That was my No. 1 priority," Zanardi told reporters after his race Wednesday. "Day by day I managed to regain control and strength, regain some confidence and concentrate on different things and here I am now."

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Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/