ESPN Hits Disability Home Run With Superior Beings
The ESPN documentary, Superior Beings, shows a family tape of 6-year-old Rudy Garcia-Tolson, bi-amputee, using his first pair of prosthesis. He throws one aside saying, "This is junk." Soon both were held together with fraying bungee cords. Now at age 13 he has three different pairs of carbon fiber legs for walking, running and biking. Bordering on bionic, they come from the MIT leg laboratory. The running legs have no heels so Rudy can't stand still. How fitting for this human perpetual motion machine. "Sports changed my life," says Rudy, "I'm way freer and way independent."
He's a disciplined, all around athlete who has set national bi-amputee swimming records in all distances, runs a six minute mile, and competes in triathlons. His relay team won a gold medal in the Hawaii Ironman triathlon. His disability is clearly part of his life although he prefers the term "challenged." Yet the viewer's focus is riveted on his superior athletic prowess.
Garcia-Tolson is one of several athletes with disabilities profiled in Superior Beings. ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) has produced a compelling documentary that celebrates the achievements of several disabled athletes. It is technically adept, fast paced and catches and holds the viewer's attention. Superior Beings is a one-hour show that highlights excellence and the ability of sports to transform lives. ESPN2 will air an encore presentation on Friday, February 20 at 3:30 p.m., ET.
Superior Beings also profiles Erik Weihenmayer, who in 2001 became the first blind climber to reach the summit Mount Everest; Tricia Downing, paraplegic, who races bikes and competes in triathlons; and Hugh Herr, who started the leg laboratory at MIT after losing his legs from a condition caused by severe weather during a rock climbing expedition. The program showcases Special Olympics and its historic role in paving the way for all athletes with disabilities. Superior Beings is narrated by blind athlete/entertainer Tom Sullivan.
Sullivan's parents felt the way to protect their son was to keep him in the backyard behind an eight-foot fence. One day the child climbed to the top of the fence. As he prepared to throw himself over, he thought death would be preferable to staying in the backyard. As he lay on the pavement on the other side of the fence, a neighbor child approached. Sullivan says he heard the three best words in the English language: "Want to play?"
Superior Beings notes that profiled athletes with disabilities have turned tragedy into triumph. That may be so and it is certainly a part of public perception. Yet these athletes are not about tragedy and neither is Sullivan's narration. The show portrays top athletes utterly centered on superb performance to achieve their goal. Disability is part and parcel of the lives of these individuals. Superior Beings seems at times to be saying that disability is part of the normal life experience. "There's a point on that ribbon of highway," says cyclist Tricia Downing, "where the worlds of disabled and able bodied come together. It shows people what the human spirit is."
Any viewer with interest in the human spirit, sports or disability would find viewing ESPN2's Superior Beings an hour well spent.