Kieran is a young, 23 year old Irish olympicon, who suffered two serious injuries after which "doctors told him he would never walk again: a botched leg operation that caused nerve damage and a brain injury that kept him from doing even the simplest things, like sitting or eating."
"And back to gymnastics he went. He swept the floors of his gym to finance his training and jumped subway turnstiles to get to practice because there was no cash to spare. His parents held bake sales, candy sales and carwashes to raise money for him."
Behan is competing in the vault, the horizontal bar and his specialty, the floor exercise, but is not fooling himself into thinking he could win a medal — or even make the finals. He just hopes his tale might inspire others to overcome hardship, whether it is in sports, at work or at home. (more at the NY Times)
