In London she is participating in her fifth Olympic Games. Big whoop, you say? Also, today she's turning 23 years old. I'll pause here to let you do the math...
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Impossible, right? Wrong!
Natalia Partyka, born July 27, 1989 in my home town Gdansk. More importantly, born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities.
Partyka won her first international table tennis medal in 1999, at the disabled World Championships. She competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. In 2004, she won a gold medal in the singles event and a silver in the team event at the Athens Paralympics. She also won two gold medals that year at the European Championships for Cadets, organised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The latter competition was intended for able-bodied competitors.
In 2006, Partyka won three gold medals at the European Paralympic Championships, one gold and two silver at the International Paralympic Committee's Table Tennis World Championships for Disabled, and a silver in the team event at the ITTF European Junior Championship. She won two silver medals and one bronze at the 2007 edition of the latter competition. Also in 2007, Partyka won three gold medals at the European Paralympic Championships, and a bronze at the ITTF World Junior Teams Championships.
She competed in both the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing - one of only two athletes to do so, the other being Natalie du Toit in swimming. They were her third Paralympic Games, and her first Olympics. Competing in class 10 at the Beijing Paralympics, she won gold by defeating China's Fan Lei by three sets to nil. In 2008, she won a gold medal in the singles event and a silver in the team event at the Beijing Paralympics - she duplicated her Athens Paralympics result.
Long story short: you go girl!
