10 Athletes Who Overcame Disabilities

Natalie du Toit was riding her scooter back from swimming practice one day and a car struck her. As a result of the accident, she lost one of her legs. She still decided to pursue swimming with one leg and it paid off. She won four gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games and qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, becoming the first female swimmer to qualify for the Olympics with a prosthetic leg.

Baseball is one of the most challenging sports on earth, and that's for two-armed people. Gray, who played shortly after the dead ball era, had just one arm and yet became a minor league sensation and reached the major leagues. Once there, he played 77 games for the St. Louis Browns.

A pitcher, Brissie was shipped overseas to fight in WWII, where he was hit in the leg with artillery fire. This shattered his shin, and it required 23 procedures to fix the bone without amputating the leg. He fought back from this and pitched in the major leagues with a brace. He wasn't a slouch once he reached the majors, either. Brissie won 44 games in his career and was an All-Star in 1949.

Born with a disease that forced her to have her two lower legs amputated at 18 months old, Long still wanted to become one of the best swimmers in the world. She accomplished that goal as she accumulated 12 Paralympic gold medals in her career by dominating the competition.

Bleier was a fixture in the Steelers' backfield until he had to go to the battlefield of Vietnam. There, he lost 40 percent ability in his right foot and leg after being too close to an exploding grenade. However, when he returned, he worked hard to return to the field and eventually became a key contributor on four Super Bowl champion Steelers teams.

Even after his ugly situation with the culpable homicide of his fiancee, you can't deny the amazing athletic story of Pistorius. He had two prosthetic legs and competed in the Olympics. That's simply amazing. It's just a shame that he had to ruin such a great story with an act of violence.

It sounds like the narrative of a fictional novel. A surfer gets her arm bitten off by a shark, and then continues to surf because that's what she loves doing. The only catch is that Hamilton's story is true. By coming back and continuing to be a top surfer in the world, Hamilton has inspired young surfers everywhere.

Imagine trying to kick a football without any toes on your foot. That's exactly what Dempsey did for several years in the NFL. He wasn't just an average kicker either -- he had the record for longest field goal in NFL history for a couple of decades. By refining his style to kick the ball straight instead of in a sweeping motion, Dempsey became one of the best kickers ever.

When Anthony Robles was born with just one leg, it wasn't likely that he would have any kind of future in athletics. However, he dedicated himself to wrestling and eventually earned a scholarship to Arizona State University. Once he got there, he continued shattering expectations by winning a national championship in his weight class.

With just one hand, Jim Abbott was able to become one of the premier pitchers of his generation. That's what separates him from other people on this list. He was able to be dominant for a sustained period of time and he did it all with one hand. He and these other athletes helped show that anything is possible with enough motivation.