When he was 15, Keita Sato had to cut off his cancer-ridden right leg. "I didn't feel sad when I heard about losing my leg," said Sato, now 27 and on the relay team vying for gold at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. "There were options."
His option now is a prosthetic blade made by Xiborg Inc, a startup in Japan that develops replacement limbs for athletes. Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee South African athlete known as the "blade runner" became famous for his speed on the track (before becoming notorious for his murder trial). Now, others have picked up the baton, competing at levels that equal or even surpass uninhibited sports pros.