Most athletes have the benefit of seeing what's ahead
of them -- an opponent, the bars, a vault.
But for 13-year-old Lola Walters, she usually has no
idea what's coming until she's literally five feet away from
it.
Walters, a Washington resident, is legally blind, and
suffers from a disease called nystagmus which causes her eyes to
shift constantly, leaving her with double vision and no depth
perception, The dailymail reports.
"Most people I compete with don't know I am any
different to them," Walters told the news source. "And as far as
I'm concerned it can stay that way. If they don't know, they don't
need to score me differently."
The teen impressed audiences at the American Gymnastics
Academy Long Beach Open earlier this year.
Lola's mother, Beth, says that her daughter has been a
gymnast since she was three -- climbing across the monkey bars with
ease. It wasn't until she was already enrolled in gymnastics that
Beth realized the extent of Lola's vision problems, and by that
point, Lola was already a good gymnast, King5 reports.
"I don't know what it would be like to do gymnastics
with perfect vision," Walter told King5.com,
"so really, I don't see a difference."
Lola's disability does cause her to fall more than
others during a performance, ABC reports.
But that just means she gets back up more often, and
tries again.
"She works twice as hard as everybody else," Jackie
Crooker Lola gymnastic coach told ABC, "and I've seen her fall
harder than anybody, and she'll get up and go again, every single
time.
Watch video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyfBhs59pA8&feature=player_embedded