Despite being born with both legs missing below the knee, sprinter Blake Leeper has defied the odds and is ranked as one of the fastest men in the world. After addiction set his career back in 2016, Leeper set his eyes on a new goal of competing in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. A new documentary called “Abled” follows Leeper as he tries to make that dream come true. Leeper spoke with Amrit Singh on “LA Times Today.”
Leeper said his parents’ positive attitude after he was born with a congenital birth defect shaped his outlook on life early on. He talked about how the 2012 Paralympic Games were one of the “greatest experiences” of his life.
In 2016, Leeper was barred from the Paralympic Games after testing positive for substances. He reflected on that dark period and how he came back to the sport.
“I didn’t know how to deal with my issues. I was trying to put a smile on my face, but deep down, I was suffering. I had to look at myself in the mirror and I had to ask myself how badly I really want this. What type of men do I really want to be moving forward?” he said. “By going through that, I turned it around, and I was able to give back my life on the track. And I was training even harder and running even faster than I could ever imaginable before.”
Leeper set his sights on competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but was turned away since the Olympic Committee said his prosthetic legs gave him an unfair advantage. He compared his experience to Oscar Pistorius, a Paralympian who also ran in the Olympics in 2012.
“Once they allowed [Pistorius] to run in the Olympic Games, they said this is only a case-by-case situation. And the next ‘Blade Runner,’ a.k.a. me, will have to go through this process all over again. But what they did after the Pistorius case, they went back into the rulebooks and switched the burden of proof. Last time, the Olympics had to prove that Pistorius didn’t gain unfair advantage. When I went through this, I had to prove it because the burden of proof was switched,” Leeper explained.
Leeper was deemed too tall in his running legs to compete fairly. He documented the experience in a documentary called “Abled.”
“This documentary is coming out and I’m super excited because it follows my journey on my road to try to be the fastest man in the world. My fight against the Olympics and following all through COVID, battling through that. And it followed me through me being a father, the birth of my daughter and just my dreams... So if people are watching it, I hope they get inspired by watching this documentary because it’s going to change your life forever,” he said.
“Abled” will premiere at the Dances with Films festival on July 1. For screening information, visit DancesWithFilms.com.
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