More on the Mermaid - Nadya's Tail

Here's an article that ran in a UK paper (Telegraph.co.uk). More detail and a picture of Nadya swimming is included plus a link to the video embedded below.

I love these quotes from the Mermaid, herself, "A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of yourself." She goes on to say, "I thought rather than just having it as a plaything, I would take it further." What does she mean by that? Triathlon baby!

By her beauty and upbeat manner, one can tell that Nadya has not let being a double amputee ruin her life. She's made the most of it and now can give hope to others. Cheers!



This second video, where she's swimming in the open water, really makes you see Nadya as a real mermaid, what with the surprise peeks of her tail.

Mermaids are now real

My regular readers may recall that I pontificated on the idea of swimming prostheses for double amputees in a prior post after seeing an article about a dolphin that had a new tail made for it.

Well dear reader, my science fiction has come to pass. Check this out! I present the new mermaid.

Just call me Jules Verne or Gene Roddenberry. You choose.

Could Olympics Double Amputee Decision Impact Swimming One Day?

In my mind, the Olympics has done a grave injustice to itself this week by granting, upon appeal, the right for a double amputee to compete. Am I being heartless? If this were just a few years back, I might agree that I was. But I don't feel that way today. With the rapid advance in technology, we really will have accident victims performing like Steve Austin - The Six Million Dollar Man. This runner will have spring in his step that is technically superior to the life-long developed tendons in an able-bodied person. What's next? Would a sickly person be able to take steroids to "fix" their condition and thus compete? I exaggerate, but seriously, look at swimmers. In a recent post I asked the question about whether a new dolphin prosthetic could be used by a double amputee. I really think that's doable. Now take that a step further. Why couldn't that prosthetic make one swim fast - think butterfly. It certainly could. Just look at all the world records that have fallen with the new swim suits developed this year. If you don't think a trained athlete could make webbed prosthetic work in their favor, think again. I think this was the wrong decision. Feel free to agree, or disagree, but this decision is huge.