{"id":427,"date":"2019-07-10T12:40:04","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T11:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgeneration.ch\/?p=427"},"modified":"2020-10-22T13:14:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T12:14:07","slug":"mit-beiden-beinen-im-leben","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgeneration.ch\/en\/mit-beiden-beinen-im-leben\/","title":{"rendered":"With both feet on the ground"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 33<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Exactly when you think you have already seen everything, then you are disabused. Especially if you think you know the physical limits and requirements of snowboarding: You stand on the board, bounce with your knees and trigger the turns by rotating your upper body and shifting the center of gravity between your feet. At least that was my understanding of snowboarding for the last four decades. For this reason, my mind first struggled to interpret what I saw correctly. Flashes of thoughts like \"that's impossible!\" went through my head. \"How can he...\" was next, when I noticed that suddenly my world view was turned upside down. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something like this is what most people think when they see Darren \"Swifty\" Swift snowboarding for the first time. The ex-soldier, amputated above the knee on both sides - so he has no knees anymore - boards despite the massive restriction. Rather, I think, one simply missed to tell him that this is actually impossible. It seems that the charismatic and <\/strong>formerly 188 cm tall giant - who is now half a meter shorter - has defined his own rules of what is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Pascal Kesselmark<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, there is a decisive experience in the life of every person. For Swifty this was May 1991, when he lost a good friend and both his legs in an IRA attack in Northern Ireland. That day shaped him into what he is today: father, adventurer, boarder, actor and motivational speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since I was able to spend a few days in the mountains with Swifty and his teammates over the last few months, I was struck by the joy of life of him and his colleagues, whether they were amputated, blind or their bodies were poisoned by enriched uranium ammunition. A zest for life that reminded me of the early days of snowboarding and the time before the big commercialism. And what Swifty achieves is enormous: No knees to cushion, all blows go straight into the back and the board with the homemade binding strapped to his thighs weighs over 12 kilograms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interview with Swifty was conducted on the occasion of a training at the\nKaunertal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we start the interview. It seems you have no problem talking about the attack and the loss of your legs. Was this true from the beginning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never had a problem talking about it, it was so thanks to the military-medical care, where the guys from the military never gave me the opportunity to not be myself and to withdraw or keep quiet about it. So I always talked very openly about what was happening to me. It doesn't bother me. There's a cathartic benefit, I think, or one of the benefits is to be able to talk cathartically about what happened, and I enjoyed doing that. Although I have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), I don't suffer from it; I manage my condition. I am able to manage my condition; mostly, not all the time, but mostly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Pascal Kesselmark<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then we'll go straight to the full. How did you lose your legs in 1991?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two IRA terrorists tried to climb out of a five-story building\nbuilding to drop a bomb on my head. At least I think so, because\nhit the bomb, a coffee glass jug, right next to me. The IRA (Irish Republican\nArmy) placed Semtex (editor's note: a plastic explosive) in the glass jug.\nAnd inside the Semtex was what we used to call shipyard confetti: Nuts,\nScrews, nails. Anything that can fly around and maim and kill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It blew my mind and killed my friend Terry \"Geordie\" O'Neill. He was - like me - a dog handler and he was standing about three feet away from me and he was dead before he hit the ground. And I sat on my ass on the concrete, fully conscious and without pain, there was no pain. I just sat there, looking at his body and yelling at him: Geordie! Geordie! Wake up, Geordie! Then I looked at myself and noticed that my legs and two fingers were missing. The bomb had injured my left arm and in addition I had many shrapnel injuries. I was bleeding heavily and thought I was going to die. My grandmother died about 18 months earlier and I thought - I am not religious in any way - she would come and get me, there would be a tunnel with a light. \"Darren comes to the light, comes this way\" and I sat there for what felt like an eternity, but nothing happened. So I wanted to shoot myself and so I reached for my pistol, because I always had a pistol with me in all my time in Northern Ireland. But this one time I did not have the gun with me and I could not shoot myself. Looking back now, I had some sort of luck in misfortune. Otherwise I might have shot my chin off, or my ear, or whatever it was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You could have made things\nmade it worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. I was taken to hospital and I was in a coma for about four days. Then they moved me to London and I started my rehabilitation. This lasted about 18 months and then I was asked: Do you want to stay at home or should we give you an office job? But an office job, that was not me; I was an infantryman. I decided that at 26 years of age it was time for me to leave the army. Since I joined at 16, I had 10 years behind me and that was enough. So I traveled around the world, tried out many sports and came to all the things I do today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You decided then\nnot to take the office job. Then what were your plans? You were free, you\nyou could do almost anything you wanted to. So what did you do exactly? You say,\nthat you've traveled a lot. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no limitations at all, I was not married and had no children. I just wanted to go away and do what I always wanted to do. My passion was always traveling, making new experiences and doing different things. To be honest, I was not really into sports at that time. Sport was not something that was high on my agenda, but I enjoyed everything that included adventure. So when sport coincides with adventure, then I am involved and so I took part in some canoeing and went on an expedition in the Canadian Northwest Territories up in the Arctic Circle. It was with some friends who were also disabled. Canoeing down a white water river to the Arctic Circle and it was an amazing trip, an amazing event and experience. The expedition lasted 18 days and it took us two years to plan, prepare and adjust to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards I decided to cross Iceland with a bicycle with hand wheel drive. At that time I had already done some expeditions with other people and I enjoyed working as a team, but I wanted to do something all by myself. So I thought up this expedition through Iceland. Nobody had ever driven through Iceland by hand. Unfortunately, my original route through the centre of Iceland - between the glaciers - literally fell through due to the weather. Finally I drove across the south to the lowest part of Iceland and back to Reykjavik. It was an amazing trip and I had a lot of fun, but it was very exhausting; hand bikes are exhausting and in Iceland it is either uphill or downhill and there is usually always headwind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Then I had the chance to start skydiving;\nso I became a skydiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you mean,\nthat you had the chance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me and my very good friend Alistair Hodgson - he lost his legs just like me and we did some things together for a few years - were offered a job: Why don't you do a tandem jump for Blesma (British Limbless Ex-Servicemen Association) And we just thought: Yeah right, then we'll come along and won't be able to do it because we don't have legs. But this guy said, \"No, no, no, come over, we'll sort it out.\" So we did this parachute jump and we really enjoyed it. It was the best thing we ever did. We both looked at each other and said, \"Fuck it, we have to do it alone, we don't need a tandem, let's do another jump\". <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alistair
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span> Alistair and Swifty somewhere over England<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So we talked to the chief of the landing zone and told him that we wanted to do it alone. And he said he wasn't sure if the authorities would allow it, it was a matter of safety and insurance. Anyway, he told us that he would look into it. About three weeks later, he called us and told us it was possible. So we became the first two skydivers in the world with no legs above the knee. We skydived for about five or six years and in 2003 Alistair and I won gold at the British Skydiving Championships. We lied to all those people who said that you can't skydive if you don't have knees. We pointed our fingers at them and said: \"No, we can, look what we have won\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gewinn
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span> Won the gold medal at the British Skydiving Championships 2003<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Was there a special\nDisabled category?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, in skydiving there is no category for disabled people;\neither you jump or you don't jump? That's it and no one cares\nis about a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span> Swifty over Arizona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So you've got them all\ndefeated.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was fantastic because the handicap doesn't allow anyone\ninterested. Once you're in the air, it doesn't matter what\ndisability or ability you have. We've been very successful with it, but...\nI got a little bored skydiving and was looking for something\n...and looked around at other people. The love for it has been extinguished over time. So decided...\nI decided to find another sport and switched to the monoskibob,\nwhich I then drove for about 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Swifty
Darren \"Swifty\" Swift<\/a> | board generation<\/span> Swifty on the monoskibob<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I really liked doing that, but you know what? It became\na little boring and a little mmm... I went to Italy and I have\ndid what everyone in Italy does when they ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mas is made in\nItaly skiing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, you sit there and eat lunch. The Italian\nLunch lasts about three hours and usually includes wine and\npasta, of course. So I had a bowl of pasta, and I was mostly done\nhad a bottle of wine. Suddenly these three young snowboarders were riding\ndown the slope - it was in 2005\/2006 - and right towards me, when I was on\nterrace sat and enjoyed my wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was that in\nItaly?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sestriere. And these guys came up, stuck their boards in the snow and went in to drink beer. I thought, \"Fuck it. I want to do that. That's what I wanna do\". And so I came home, and one night I sat down with my very good friend Dale Rennard - he's a designer - over a couple of beers and I said to him: \"Look, I want to be a snowboarder\". He asked me how I wanted to do that. And I said I didn't know, but that night we drew the basics of my binding for today on a beer mat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Die
Pascal Kesselmark<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the next 14 years this drawing has evolved into what I do now, competitive snowboarding. So that's when I caught the snowboard fever and as a result I tried competing in the Paralympics. Last year, the Winter Paralympics were in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and I trained with the British team for two and a half years to qualify. Unfortunately I could not be selected for various reasons. It's a real pity; the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) wanted me to be there and I passed all IPC qualifications. But unfortunately the British federation decided that I was not fast enough. I was three seconds over the time they had requested. So I was not allowed to participate, which was very disappointing for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you'd rather\ndidn't send anyone instead of you? So much for the \"Participation is everything\" motto...<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they really pissed me off because\nI'm the only snowboarder in the world who has been amputated above the knee on both sides.\nAlthough my buddy, who I'm teaching now, is already boarding. I am the\nOnly one who competes and they didn't see fit to let me\neven though I beat seven individual amputees from around the world\nhad. They all went to the Paralympics for their countries.\nwasn't allowed to go. To be honest, I'm pretty bitter about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pascal Kesselmark<\/a> | board generation<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It sounds like the\nHistory of Eddie the Eagle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very, almost exactly like Eddie's. I never wanted\nWinning the medal. I was there to show people that anything is possible\nis if you want to. Anyone can do it if you really want to\n...is beginning. But unfortunately, the British Association has decided that this is not\nwas sufficient reason to go to Korea. They wanted medals and\nSponsors wanted medals. It's the same all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Paralympics are\nSo it's the same as the Olympics? Business comes before everything else?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That's exactly it. Where the Paralympics and the IPC\nreally supported. I can't complain about them, because they're\nwanted me there and they saw exactly what I was trying to do. Unfortunately,\nthe British did not. But hey, that's life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you have been against\nsingle amputees have to compete?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only amputate the single above the knee, but also\nthe double lower knee amputees, who obviously have an advantage over\nthey have two knees to bounce. But also competitors with cerebral\nParalysis and multiple sclerosis and other disabilities have it easier than\nme and that was very obvious from the beginning. I am at a great disadvantage and\nI noticed that from the very beginning at the competitions. In my first\ncompetition I was a zero, I was below zero, I didn't even show up at\nof the rankings. After a while, my skills started to show a little.\nand I managed to get better. We changed the way\nbindings was configured and I did not win in the end - I have\nnever won anything - but I somehow beat the first person, then\ntwo people, then three people, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n