Eyeway : Sports : Hall of fame

This is the incredible story of world-class climber Erik Weihenmayer. Beginning from the diagnosis that foretold his loss of eyesight, to his dream to climb mountains and finally to be one of a select group of climbers who have climbed the seven summits and touched the top of the world.

Henry Wanyoike, a totally blind runner from Kenya , has many world records and gold medals to his credit. These include three gold medals at the Sydney and Athens Paralympics and world record at the marathon for the visually disabled, held in Boston, 2004.

The most successful IBSA athlete of all time is perhaps Marla Runyan of the USA. Nowadays, Marla is competing successfully in mainstream competition, although her sight category is probably B2 rather than the B3 it was when she took part in our competitions as a student.

A B2 player (partially blind), he is a batsman - wicket keeper, giving his able captaincy to the present Indian Blind cricket team.

A B1 player (totally blind), he has been playing blind cricket since 1998. During the tour of Pakistan in 2004, he got himself coined as, the ‘Blind Tendulkar’ for his prolific scoring.

An all-rounder, he has been playing cricket since 1998. He is a true team player and is the man behind prolific scoring of Rajinder Verma who provides his running support to the powerful batting strokes.

Erik, born with retinoscheses, was completely blind by the age of 13 due to glaucoma.

He speaks movingly of the role his family played in breaking through the barriers of blindness: his mother, who prayed for the miracle that would restore his son’s sight and his father, who encouraged him to strive for that unreachable peak. Erik recalls his struggles to push past the limits placed before him, by the seeing world as much as by his blindness.

What is most inspiring about his achievements is that at the age of 33, Erik completed his quest to conquer each of the seven summits - the highest peaks of all the continents. And by doing so he joined a club of only 100 mountaineers who have accomplished that feat.

In May 2001 Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind man to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain: Mount Everest. Just four months later he stood on top of Mount Kosciusko in Australia. Additionally, he has scaled El Capitan a 3,300-foot over-hanging rock wall in the Yosemite National Park in the U.S. and Polar Circus a 3,000-foot ice waterfall in the Canadian Rockies.

Erik’s undaunted spirit of adventure and courage to excel, in a culture which affords very few opportunities for the blind, won him much acclaim. He won the ESPN's ESPY award for the Best Athlete with a Disability in 2002, appeared on the cover of Time magazine in June 2001 following his Everest success, and appeared in popular US television shows of Oprah, Good Morning America. He has been honoured with the Helen Keller lifetime achievement award, and the Freedom foundation Free Spirit award. He has also carried the Olympic Torch in both summer and winter games.

Erik is also a motivational speaker and his corporate clients include Google, Procter and Gamble, Cisco Systems, IBM, AT and T, General Electric, AOL and Microsoft. Erik has shared the speaking platform with notables like U.S. President George Bush, Mayor Rudy Guiliani, General Norman Schwarzkopf, and authors Tom Peters and Stephen Covey.

Steven Haft, a Hollywood producer, is making a documentary Ascent to be released in the spring of 2006. This film will go a long way towards changing the myth regarding disabled people throughout the world.

Despite losing his sight at the age of 13, Erik has never let his blindness interfere with his passion for an exhilarating and fulfilling life. He is also a happily married man and has a four-year-old daughter.

Erik Weihenmayer continues to live an adventurous life and sets a living example to prove that you need not have perfect sight to have an extraordinary vision.

Henry Wanyoike, of Kenya, is an accomplished athlete. He started his training as an athlete at the age of 12, when he had regular vision. In 1995, Wanyoike suffered a minor stroke that damaged his optic nerve and led to loss of sight. A German counsellor advised him that he could still run with a guide. Then started his career as an athlete, by first representing his school in 1999 and then running in marathons and international championships.

Wanyoike runs with his track guide and long time friend, Joseph Kibunja. A short strap is attached to Wanyoike 's wrist; the other end of which is held by Kibunja, who must run a little behind him, to avoid disqualification. Wanyoike won his first gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. Thereafter his athletic career scaled great heights. Some of his other major accomplishments include: breaking the w orld record and winning gold medal at a blind marathon in Japan in 2002, winning gold medals for the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres races at the World Blind Championship, Quebec, Canada in August 2003 and victory in the Boston Marathon, 2003. Wanyoike also finished fourth overall in the Mumbai Marathon in February 2004.

At the 2004 Athens Paralympics, he bagged the gold and broke the world record in 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. On April 17, 2005 he set a new world record of two hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds in the London Marathon and only a week later in Hamburg he sliced another 80 seconds off the same record.

Wanyoike is also a respected philanthropist. He has set up the Henry Wanyoike Foundation and is involved with various international organisations such as the Christoffel Blindenmission, Bensheim, and Light for the World, for creating awareness on disability in Africa and developed countries. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the Standard Chartered Bank's campaign for reducing blindness in the world.

Marla has Stargardt's syndrome and has been visually impaired since she was nine years old. It was as a B3, in 1992, that Marla was one of the outstanding athletes at the Paralympic Games of Barcelona, winning four gold medals. She returned to take another Paralympic gold in Atlanta in 1996.

While still competing in IBSA competitions, she took part in the US Olympic Trials for the Heptathlon in the 1990s, and finally broke through in 1999 as a middle-distance runner, winning the Pan-American Games, held that year in Canada. She also made the IAAF World Championship final in the 1,500 metres in that year, in Seville, Spain.

In 2000 she reached the Olympic Final, in Sydney, Australia. She was the first ever Paralympian to compete in the Olympics, and finished a remarkable eighth in the final of the 1,500 metres. The following year she broke the US record for the 5,000 metres.

In late 2002, she made a remarkable debut in the famous New York City Marathon, finishing with a time of 2 hours 27 minutes and 10 seconds. Only one male IBSA athlete has ever run faster (the gold-medallist from Barcelona, Carlos Talbott, also of the USA, who was tragically killed by an automobile while training.) Only a handful of women in the history of the marathon have ever run faster in their first attempt at the distance. Marla seems poised for even greater achievements in the years ahead. She is now the fifth fastest American athlete of all time over the marathon distance. Her New York performance was the second best ever in the famous race by an American woman.

Manvendra is a graduate and has been working as a stenographer with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. He is also undergoing computer training from the National Association of Blind, New Delhi.

A B2 player (partially blind), he is a batsman-wicket keeper, giving his able captaincy to the present Indian Blind Cricket team.

His cricket journey has seen some wonderful blind cricketing events including the 1998 ‘Kanishka’ World Cup in Delhi and the 2002 ‘Petro’ World Cup in Chennai. He also captained India during the team’s tour to Pakistan in 2004 and in 2005, when Pakistan toured India.

So far, he has been the most successful captain of the Indian Blind Cricket team.

Born: Febraury 6, 1976

Rajinder Verma is a qualified Master in Arts. He is a trained teacher who is currently working in a government school as a middle school teacher.

A B1 player (totally blind), he has been playing blind cricket since 1998. During the tour of Pakistan in 2004, he was dubbed the ‘Blind Tendulkar’ for his prolific scoring.

He too has played some great blind cricketing tournaments including the 1998 ‘Kanishka’ World Cup, 2002 ‘Petro’ World Cup, and the two series against Pakistan in 2004 and 2005.

Man of the Series during India’s tour to Pakistan in 2004. He was also declared the best B1 player during the same tournament.
Man of the Match title for the first match of the 2005 ‘Petro’ Cup Series against Pakistan. Once again he was declared the best B1 Indian player.
He is the only B1 player to score a double century in an international match, which he did against Pakistan in 2004.

Nirmal Kumar is the youngest of four brothers. He is the only visually impaired person in his family. He completed his Post Graduation in 1998.

An all-rounder, he has been playing cricket since 1998. He is a true team player and is the man behind prolific scoring of Rajinder Verma providing running support to the powerful batting strokes.

He has been part of the following blind cricket tournaments: the 1998 ‘Kanishka’ World Cup, 2002 ‘Petro’ World Cup, and cricket series against Pakistan in 2004 and 2005.

He shared the Man of the Series and Man of the Match awards with Rajinder Verma during India’s tour to Pakistan in 2004 and for the Delhi-based ‘Petro’ Cup Series in 2005, respectively.

Contact details: Nirmal Kumar
Old Octroi/L/C
No. 3, Adarsh Nagar, Badiya Ajmer
Rajasthan 305002
Phone: +91-145–2441935, 2680224

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