The Paralympics may now be behind us, but the story of three-time Paralympian swimmer He Junquan (何军权) continues to inspire the nation. A freak accident in He's childhood days left him without his arms but sheer determination and perseverance led him to become a star in the pool, winning multiple medals for China since the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. Even though He had won four gold medals at the Athens games, this was the first time that most Chinese became acquainted with him when they saw him hitting the Water Cube and swimming his way to global cult status with a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly final, defeating many other awe-struck swimmers that had arms. As He has no arms, the only way he can win each race is by crashing his head into the wall of the pool with no way of slowing down to lessen the impact. He has often mentioned how he leaves each competition with either a headache or a neck/back injury. more ›

Benjamin Boukpeti: Picked up the first medal for Togo bronze in the men’s slalom kayak event but the French-born sportsman has only been to Togo once as a child to visit his paternal grandmother! According to Reuters, Boukpeti "only decided to compete for Togo when it became clear he was too old to make it into the far more competitive French team". more ›