It's not often that one will find inspiration on American Gladiators, but tonight was just one of those occasions. Season Two of the all-new American Gladiators premiered Monday night. I happened to catch the rerun tonight and I'm glad I did.
John Siciliano is an Olympic gold medalist, an American Gladiator contender and an amputee. That's right, he has one leg. The other was amputated five inches above the knee. John went against an "able-bodied" contender and hung tough through three competitions. But watching him compete in the Eliminator, Gladiators end-of-show obstacle course, was one of the most amazing displays of athletic determination I've ever seen.
Click this link to watch the full-length show. John doesn't show up until the second half, so skip ahead.
To put it simply, the Eliminator is not design for someone wearing a prosthetic leg, but that didn't seem to slow John Siciliano. It begins with about a 15-yard, underwater swim. John handled that with ease. But the swim ends when you get to 10-foot tall cargo net. That was all John's competition needed to separate him from his amputee opponent, but that didn't seem to slow John Siciliano. You see, several times John had to stop, grab his prosthetic and pull it free before continuing. Next came the tight rope, which is two ropes suspended across a span, one above the other. Since his prosthetic foot is not designed to grip, John has to hang on to the top rope for dear life while slowly shuffling his feet. But that didn't seem to slow John Siciliano. He handled the hand bike as well as any others. His trip down the rolling barrel ended with a crash but he jumped right up and bounded up the pyramid. After taking the zip line down he had to figure out how to handle the teeter totter. He chose to crawl across it. While the other contenders run across the teeter totter, John's only option was to tackle in a manner you would expect from a four year old, but that didn't seem to slow John Siciliano. Finally, he came to the the Travelator, a treadmill style ramp. It eats most contenders for lunch, requiring sometimes five attempts. John handled it in three. Nothing could slow down John Siciliano.
My words don't do it justice. You have to see it for yourself.
It's human nature to take the easy road. John could have decided 15 years ago, after losing his leg, that he would not compete in an athletic competition again. That would have been the easy choice and no one would have blamed him for making it. But he didn't and he went on to win a gold medal in the Para-Olympics.
John Siciliano, I don't hold a candle to your determination.
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