For Sara Andrés Barrio (Madrid, 38 years old), athletics was not so much an escape valve, but a way to return to what her life was like. Before 2011, she had loved sport since she was a child. She practiced karate, tennis, pelota and even horse riding. She also loved nature and being outdoors. But at the age of 25, both of her legs were amputated, below the knees, after a traffic accident. She was unconscious until she woke up on a hospital stretcher. No one told her that she had lost her limbs. She realized it herself when she looked at her legs, covered by a blanket. It was a total shock. After a long rehabilitation process, she returned to work as a primary school teacher. But she was missing something: athletics. “For me, it meant going back to when I had feet and could run on my own,” she says in Paris, where she is participating in her third Paralympic Games.
The sprinter already competed in the long jump last Saturday, finishing in tenth place with 4.52 metres. But she is not done yet. She is now seeking a medal in the 100 metres T64, where she is runner-up in the world championship and won bronze in May at the Kobe World Championships. She will compete this Wednesday in the semi-final and on Friday in the final. So far, she is enjoying the experience very much. She is impressed by how full the stadiums are.
“I have never competed in such a packed stadium,” he admits. “It is wonderful because it makes you feel much more encouraged.” In the stands, he explains, there are not only adults, but many children. They have come with their families or with their schools. “That is wonderful because in the end it also does a bit of social work, because often the Paralympians show different values” to those of the Olympic Games.
He has experience in this. Andrés is now dedicated to sport, but he has worked as a teacher in early childhood education. When he showed the prostheses to the children, they were amazed. Some were afraid, others not. To normalize disability among the youngest, he decided to write stories. And two of them have already been published.
“What I want is for children to see from a young age that there are other realities, to tell them adventures and stories, values such as respect and empathy. And above all, when they walk down the street and see a blind person with a guide dog or a person in a wheelchair or with a prosthesis, they should not be afraid. They should not be afraid of this strange reality, but rather that it should be familiar to them and, above all, that they have references.”
The para-athlete also addresses adults through talks and conferences. In them she tells her story. The accident. The hospital. The return home. The moment she tried to grab a glass from the shelf and couldn’t. The realization that her life has turned upside down and that it will be forever. And the change that the drama brings about on a personal level. How she saw life and how she sees it now.
“I used to be a very demanding girl, I wanted everything now. I gave a lot of importance to what people would say, to appearances,” she remembers. “When everything comes down to life or death, when you can die or not, everything makes sense and you realise what really matters,” she adds. In her case it was family and friends. And later, once she got over her grief, athletics.
“Athletics is about going back to what I did before, being healthy, looking physically fit,” explains the Madrid native from the training track. For many people, sport is like a springboard or a bridge to overcome disabilities. But for her it was not like that. “I wanted to go running, to be like I was before,” she says.
Little by little, it became her way of life. And her job. The athlete was a double bronze medallist at the 2017 World Championships in London, in the 200 metres T44. It rained non-stop throughout the competition, but she didn’t care. She celebrated with jumps and somersaults. She also became runner-up in the 100 metres world championship in Paris in 2023. And she participated in three Paralympic Games. Those in Rio in 2016, those in Tokyo in 2020 and the current one.
She remembers Rio with great affection. “It was a dream come true. And I enjoyed it very much. Also because of that naivety when you start something, the excitement you have.” The road, however, was not easy. Before the Games she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had to stop for six months. She also suffered from skin cancer.
When she recounts what she experienced, Sara Andrés tells it all. The good and the bad. And how she dealt with it. “Human beings are programmed to forget what is easy and to complicate things with things that don’t make much sense,” she reflects. And she continues: “I have had two cancers, I have had a double amputation. Life has not smiled on me at all. Now, do I stay with the bad or do I stay with all the positive? Well, I prefer to stay with the positive. Is my life wonderful? No. Would I prefer to have feet? Yes. Would I prefer not to have had cancer? Yes, too. But well, since I can’t choose, what I do is adapt. It’s being happy by adapting.”
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