Looking Forward to Beijing, Looking Back at Disabled Silver Medalist Lis Hartel

Much has been made of disability and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, mostly about Oscar Pistorius and his fight to compete. Natalie DuToit has also been in the news, as the first person with a disability to qualify for the 2008 games. Paralympian Jin Jing dominated headlines and was hailed as a hero in her homeland after protecting the Olympic torch from protesters who sought to extinguish it in order to call attention to the plight of Tibet.

As we look forward to the 2008 Olympics, let's look back at Lis Hartel (left) and her contributions to sport at the highest levels. Ms. Hartel's achievements in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games were groundbreaking both for women and for athletes with disabilities.

In 1944, at the age of 24 and pregnant with a daughter, Lis Hartel was paralyzed by polio. Defying doctors' predictions, she followed her own physical therapy regime, and regained the use of most of her muscles with time. She delivered a healthy daughter, and made returning to her career as a Dressage rider her next goal. She began competing again, even though she still had not regained feeling in her legs.

Lis Hartel never did regain the use of her legs below the knee, but, true to form, she concentrated on learning to ride her horses skillfully without the use of those muscles. Although she required help to mount and dismount, she learned to ride and train her horses without the use of her lower legs. By 1950, she was among the strongest competitors in her region, and in 1952 she was named to Denmark's Olympic equestrian team.

In addition to her disability, Lis faced a second barrier to inclusion: her gender. In 1948, only male military officers were permitted to compete in Olympic dressage. In 1952, this rule was abruptly turned on its end, and women were invited to compete on equal ground with men. Equestrian sports are still the only events in which female Olympic athletes directly compete against their male counterparts.

Ms. Hartel and her horse, Jubilee, headed for the Helsinski Games and turned the male-dominated sport on its ear by riding to a silver medal in Individual Dressage. She lost the gold to Sweden's Henri Saint Cyr by a mere 20 points, a narrow margin for the sport. After Lis was helped to dismount, before she could collect her crutches, Henri Saint Cyr swept her up and carried her to the podium. Spectators at the event recalled that there was not a dry eye in the crowd.

Henri and Lis maintained a friendly rivalry after 1952, competing against each other several times in the next four years before repeating their performances with another gold for Henri and a second silver medal won by Lis at the 1956 Olympic Games.

Lis, now 87, became a staunch supporter of horseback riding as physical therapy. She is widely credited with sparking the movement that led to the emergence of therapeutic riding schools throughout the world. One such school, in Holland, is named Lis Hartel in her honor.

Ms. Hartel's impact on horsemanship and sport is immeasurable. This year, as you watch the Olympics or view media coverage of the Games, take a moment to remember a tough woman whose interest wasn't in proving she could "overcome her disability," but in becoming the strongest competitor and best sportsman she could be, period.