Elite Athletes Steve Cook, Monte Meier, and Chris Smith

Nordic Skier Steve Cook

Steve Cook is a champion Nordic skier who also happens to be a below-the-knee amputee. At the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin, Italy, he won three medals including: his first career gold medal in the men's standing 5K freestyle; a gold medal in the 10K classic race; and a bronze medal in the 20K classic. Cook's medals also represented the first gold medals for the U.S. Disabled Nordic Ski Team in 14 years. He also won four silver medals in the 2002 Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Prior to losing the lower portion of his right leg in a 1988 farm accident, Cook was an active recreational athlete. Following the accident, he became serious about competing and worked closely with his team at SPOT to be fitted with prosthetic limbs that would allow him to accomplish his goals.

Adding to his many honors, Cook was nominated in for a 2006 ESPY Award in the Best Male Athlete with a Disability category.

World Champion Skier Monte Meier

Champion downhill skier Monte Meier lost his leg in an accident with a garden tiller when he was eight years old. An active child who loved to run and bike before his accident, he was determined not to let his disability stand in his way. In 1985, he saw the U.S. Disabled Ski Team compete and decided that he would one day be on that team and compete in the Paralympic Games. Meier's dream came true and was a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team for 15 years. He earned four World Championships medals and four Paralympics medals including gold in slalom in Nagano, Japan, in 1998. He finished his Paralympic career at the Torino 2006 games. He competed in the standing divisions of downhill, slalom, giant slalom, and super G.

Meier also is a featured athlete in Warren Miller's 2006 film, "Off the Grid," a skiing and snowboarding odyssey.

Team USA Hockey Player Chris Smith

SPOT patient Chris Smith helped Team USA bring home the silver medal in the 2006 World Championships of the International Standing Ice Hockey Federation in Latvia. Smith plays the right-wing position.

In 2001, at age 16, Smith underwent amputation of his leg after a street luging accident. He resumed skating only three months after surgery and rejoined his Bingham High School ice hockey team that winter.

Smith made the U.S. National Amputee Hockey Team in 2003. He traveled to Finland and played in the World Championships. For the next two years he was unable to compete with the U.S. team because of a lack of sponsorship. However, in 2006 the Utah Valley State College hockey team offered to sponsor him. Although he was allowed to accept the sponsorship, because he is a student at Brigham Young University, he is only able to join UVSC on the practice squad.

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