Bibian Mentel

Six-time Dutch national champion snowboarding Bibian Mentel, 6^th on the world ranking, was preparing for the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2001, when she tore her ankle ligaments during the Worldcup in 1999. She recovered, but her ankle kept troubling her until a malignant tumor was found in her leg. Ultimately Mentel could only be saved by the amputation of her lower leg. However this didn’t stop her from continuing her sport. Only four months after the operation, she stood on the board again, using a prosthesis. And as before Mentel aimed at the highest: that same year she became national champion for the seventh time. Asked what she is not able to do since she lost her leg, Mentel simply answers: ‘I can’t think of anything yet’. Nevertheless it changed her life. She stopped her top sports career for a while, started studying again and gave birth to her first child.Bibian has made her passion into her mission. She set up her own foundation, the Mentelity Foundation, on 1 April 2012. The foundation’s mission is to encourage as many children and (young) adults as possible with a physical disability to participate in sport. In 2013 Bibian Mentel qualified for the 2014 Winter Paralympics. At the opening ceremony she was the flag-carrier for the Netherlands. She won the Paralympic gold medal in the snowboard cross event

http://www.mentelityfoundation.org/