Running isn’t everything

by ABHA ELI PHOBOO

FROM ISSUE # 153 (September 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Katrin runs wearing a custom-ade carbon fibre running prosthesis fabricated at Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research.

I received her photographs before the scheduled interview in the evening. The photos were stunning: there was so much power, confidence, and speed. I knew this was an interview I didn't want to be late for.

Katrin Green is only 23, but she currently ranks world #2 in track and field 100m, 200m, and 400m in disabled sports. Born and brought up on a farm in Germany, she was five when her left leg was amputated. But that never stopped her from climbing trees or thinking she was any different from other children.

"My parents worried, I never did," she says, "Maybe because I was so young when I lost my leg and was still one of the fastest kids in my class."

She was at a doctor's office trying out a fitting when the doctor told her she ran well and asked if she wanted to run track and field. Katrin said no and returned home, only to be bombarded with constant emails and brochures from a sports club to which the doctor had forwarded her contact information. She finally gave in and agreed to meet the people. They organised a small competition for her, after which, they asked her to move closer to the training centre.

Katrin was barely 17 when she left home and struck out on her own. Since then, she's trained hard and competed in the 2002 World Championship in Lilith, France. She didn't rank well but it was a first step for her. To hear people cheering for her motivated her to work harder. In 2004, she participated in the Paralympics in Athens, Greece but didn't do very well because of surgeries just before the event. However, she met her husband Roderick Green, who is also an amputee, and a track and field athlete from the United States.

Roderick and Katrin kept in touch while Katrin went backpacking across Australia, stopping in the United States on her way back. Only, she never made her way back to Germany, deciding to marry Roderick, who is now her husband and coach.

"Roderick is a really good coach because he knows me very well and knows how I work. I've never run faster or timed better," she says. The training paid off. Last year, in the World Championships in Taipei, she finished second in the three track and field events. Now, she's training six days a week for the Paralympics in Beijing, which starts on 6 September.

An undergraduate Spanish major at University of Central Oklahoma with a 4.0 GPA, Katrin knows what she wants in life and what is important to her. "I love running and I work hard at it but it isn't everything to me. Maybe that's why I'm not #1," she says. "I'm not just an athlete. I want to study to become a Physician's Assistant and eventually have a family. There is more to my life than just running," adds Katrina.

Green is competing in the Paralympics in Beijing. She will be representing Germany, and is sponsored by Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research, who have created a special running leg for her.

(Abha Eli Phoboo was editor of WAVE from 2005-2006. she is currently studying Creative Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma in the United States.)