Monique van der Vorst (born 20 November 1984 in Gouda) is a Dutch

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

. She is a two-time silver medal winner at the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

. After having a leg operation at the age of 13, her legs became

paralyzed Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, r ...

. In March 2010, when she was 25 years old, Van der Vorst had an accident, where she was rammed by another cyclist while riding her hand cycle. Some months after this incident, she claimed to regain feeling in both her legs, after which she claimed to retrain herself to walk. However,

Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...

has now reported that Van der Vorst was able to stand and walk during her career as a paraplegic handbiker, and that her neighbors had even reported seeing her dancing while supposedly paralyzed. Eventually, Van der Vorst began road cycling, and has been signed to the Rabobank Women's Cycling team.Cycling News
"Rabobank Women's team signs miracle athlete Monique van der Vorst"
, 22 November 2011

References

External links

Official website

Un-paralyzed Article
1984 births Living people Dutch female cyclists Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic cyclists for the Netherlands Paralympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Sportspeople from Gouda, South Holland Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in cycling Cyclists from South Holland 20th-century Dutch women 21st-century Dutch sportswomen {{Netherlands-Paralympic-medalist-stub