Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

The Athlete Who Invented His Own Prosthetic And Won Olympic Gold

When Mike Schultz lost his left leg above the knee in a snowmobiling accident, doctors told him the amputation was the only way he would survive. He was 27, a top-level athlete who had competed in motorsports since his teenage years, and the idea of stopping was something his mind simply refused to accept. Within weeks of his surgery, he was sneaking short rides on his snowmobile, and he quickly realized that the standard prosthetic he had been fitted with was designed for walking, not for the explosive demands of high-intensity sport. So, with no engineering training at all, he went into his garage and started building one himself. Five weeks later, using a mountain bike shock absorber and other creative materials, he had built the Moto Knee, and less than a year after losing his leg he was placing second at the ESPN Summer X Games wearing a prosthetic he had made with his own hands.

That invention became the foundation for BioDapt, a company Schultz founded to design athletic prosthetics for amputees who refuse to step back from the sports they love. His first customer was Walter Reed Medical Center, where he fitted veterans with combat injuries, and his products now support roughly 90 percent of lower-limb athletes globally who compete in para snowboarding. He went on to become a two-time Paralympic medalist himself, winning gold and two silvers while competing on a board with his prosthetic leg forward. At the Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympics, Schultz competed at age 44 for the third and final time, with about 25 athletes from multiple countries competing in the same events wearing equipment he personally designed and built. After the Games he will retire from competition and devote himself entirely to BioDapt, helping the next generation of Paralympic athletes prepare for Los Angeles in 2028.

Source: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/mike-schultz-paralympics-prosthetics

PrevPreviousThe World’s Most Expensive Guitar Just Set A New Record
NextScientists Just Dated The First Human LanguageNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Eating Eggs Regularly May Cut Alzheimers Risk By Up To 27 Percent

May 9, 2026

A new study from Loma Linda University Health has found that adults 65 and older who eat eggs regularly have a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, with people who consumed at least one egg per day for five or more days a week showing up to a 27

Read More
Happy News

Birdwatching Among Gen Z In Britain Has Grown By Over 1000 Percent Since 2018 And The Reasons Why Are Beautiful

May 8, 2026

Birdwatching has quietly become one of the fastest-growing hobbies among young people in Britain, with new research from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds finding that nearly 750,000 people aged 16 to 29 now birdwatch regularly, a staggering increase of more than 1,000 percent since 2018. The study

Read More
Happy News

Meet The Record Holders Who Prove That Age Is Genuinely Just A Number

May 8, 2026

Guinness World Records has published a new feature celebrating some of the most extraordinary older athletes on the planet, a collection of record holders that makes a compelling case that age really is just a number. Leading the group is Mathea Allansmith of Hawaii, born in 1930, who took up

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.