“For the more demanding dances, I will need a more cushioned one, fortunately today’s technology allows it, for example, this is the leg I use for volleyball or another team sport. It is sprung, allows for decent jumps,” Ježek revealed in a broadcast on Czech Television how he is preparing for StarDance – he chooses which prosthesis will be best for him to dance with.
For many, it would be an impossible idea, for him it probably won’t be such a problem, if only because he lost part of his leg due to an accident when he ended up under the wheels of a truck at the age of 11. He has been engaged in professional wrestling since 19 and has achieved unprecedented success – he is a six-time world champion and has won the Paralympics six times. Now he is engaged in sports journalism
He claims that he coped better with his fate thanks to sports. “Every activity that I tried and succeeded at again gave me so much confidence. And I thought to myself, thanks to that, life doesn’t end with that injury,” described Jiří.
He will start training in August, for now he is mainly maintaining his physical condition. In StarDance he will be the first person with a handicap and he himself knows that it will certainly not be a walk in the rose garden.
“I definitely won’t be able to do everything like a healthy person, because I won’t cross my toe, I won’t stand up on it. That will be a lot on the dancer, but I believe we can find some way to avoid it,“he believes.
Jiří Ježek also hopes that his participation in the dance competition will be good for something and maybe help people who have suffered some injuries and are now falling into depression. “Perhaps it will show someone who has currently lost a leg or has another handicap that a person can do much more than they think at that moment of crisis.” the athlete added.
Paralympian Jirka Ježek: They lost my leg at the airport!
Cyclist Jiří Ježek as a child
Author: reprofoto ČT