In September 1944, while she was pregnant, Danish rider Lis Hartel developed polio. For a while she could not walk at all. She learned to walk again with braces, but she stayed partially paralyzed below her knees. Still, she kept riding. In 1952 women were allowed to compete in Olympic dressage for the first time, and Hartel went to Helsinki. She had to be helped on and off her horse, yet she won the silver medal behind Sweden’s Henri Saint Cyr. At the victory ceremony, the gold medalist helped her climb up onto the podium. Four years later the same two riders finished first and second again. Strength is wonderful, but so is the champion who reaches down and lifts a rival up beside him.
