Amy Purdy
Purdy in 2012
Personal information
Birth nameAmy Michelle Purdy
NationalityAmerican
Born (1979-11-07) November 7, 1979
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
SpouseDaniel Gale (m. 2015)
Websiteamypurdy.com
Medal record
Women's para snowboarding
Representing  United States
Paralympic Games
Silver medal – second place2018 PyeongchangSnowboard cross
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sochi Snowboard cross
Bronze medal – third place2018 PyeongchangBanked slalom
New Zealand Winter Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Cardrona Para-snowboard cross

Amy Michelle Purdy (born November 7, 1979) is an American actress, model, para-snowboarder, motivational speaker, clothing designer and author. Purdy is a 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist, 2018 Paralympics silver medalist, and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports.

Life and career

Purdy was born in Las Vegas in 1979. When she was 19 years old, she contracted Neisseria meningitidis, a form of bacterial meningitis.[1] The disease affected her circulatory system when the infection led to septic shock;[2] both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee, she lost both kidneys,[3] and her spleen had to be removed.[1] Doctors gave Purdy a 2% chance of survival.[4] Two years later, she received a kidney transplant from her father.[1]

Purdy began snowboarding seven months after she received her prosthetic legs. About a year after her legs were amputated, she finished third in a snowboarding competition at Mammoth Mountain. Subsequently, she received a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), a non-profit organization. Through this grant, she was able to compete in several snowboarding competitions in the U.S.

In 2003, Purdy was recruited by the CAF as spokesperson, and she moved to San Diego to be closer to the CAF headquarters. In San Diego, she continued her pre-amputee profession as a massage therapist. She also became involved in the modeling and acting industry. In February 2003, she played a model in a Madonna music video.[1] Later in 2003, Purdy started working for Freedom Innovations, a prosthetic feet manufacturer, as its "Amputee Advocate".

She has gone on to co-found her own non-profit organization, Adaptive Action Sports,[5] a chapter of Disabled Sports USA[6] for individuals with physical disabilities who want to get involved in action sports (snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing) or art and music.[1][7]

In 2005, Purdy made her film debut in What's Bugging Seth, a movie by Eli Steele.[8]

She was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25 in 2014,[9] and one of Oprah's SuperSoul 100 visionaries and influential leaders in 2016.[10]

She retired from competitive sports in March 2022.[11]

Television appearances

In 2012, Purdy and her now husband Daniel Gale[12] participated on the 21st season of The Amazing Race. After nearly winning the first leg of the race, they were the second team eliminated and finished in 10th place out of 11 teams.[13]

On February 5, 2014, Purdy was in a one-hour special on NBC television titled How to Raise an Olympian. The program, hosted by Meredith Vieira, chronicled the journeys of seven U.S. Olympians and included interviews with parents and coaches along with home video and photos from each athlete's childhood. Purdy went on to win the bronze medal in Snowboard Cross in the 2014 Winter Paralympics.

In 2015, Purdy was featured in a Super Bowl advertisement for the Toyota Camry. The advert features Purdy snowboarding, dancing, and adjusting her prosthetic legs with a voiceover of Muhammad Ali's "How Great I Am" speech.[14]

Book

On December 30, 2014, Purdy released a memoir entitled On My Own Two Feet: From Losing My Legs To Learning The Dance Of Life, published by HarperCollins.

Dancing

Purdy dancing with a robotic arm at the 2016 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony

Purdy was a contestant on season 18 of Dancing with the Stars. Paired with five-time champion Derek Hough, Purdy was the first double amputee contestant to ever appear on the show.[15]

Week # Dance/song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-Cha-Cha/"Counting Stars" 8 8 8 No Elimination
2 Swing/"Swing Set" (Jurassic 5) 8 8 8 Safe
3 Contemporary/"Human" 9 9/9* 9 Safe
4 Salsa/"Brand New" 9 8/8* 9 No Elimination
5 Waltz/"So This Is Love" 9 9/10* 9 Safe
6 Jive/"Shout" 9 10*/9 10 Safe
7 Rumba/"Light My Fire"
Team Loca (Freestyle)/"Livin' la Vida Loca"		 9
10		 9*/9
10*/9		 9
10		 Safe
8 Argentine Tango/"Heart Upon My Sleeve"
Jive Dance Duel/"Ain't Nothing Wrong with That"		 10
9		 10/10*
10/10*		 10
10		 Safe
9
Semi-finals		 Quickstep/"You Can't Hurry Love"
Jazz/"Too Darn Hot"		 10
9		 9/10*
10/10*		 10
10		 Safe
10
Finals		 Salsa/"Ran Kan Kan"
Freestyle/"Dare You"
Argentine Tango & Cha-Cha-Cha Fusion/"Rather Be"		 10
10
10		 10
9
10		 10
10
10		 Runner-Up

At the 2016 Summer Paralympics' opening ceremony, Purdy made an appearance performing a dance routine with what was promoted as a "surprise partner": a KUKA robotic arm.[16]

In 2018 Amy was back on Dancing with the Stars Season 27 dancing with Tinashe & Brandon in a trio dance

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jensen, Adam (September 5, 2009). "Disabled Athletes Adapt". Tahoe Daily Tribune. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Meet the Athletes". PBS. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Amy Purdy: A bionic fembot's road to Sochi". Summit Dailey. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Passion, Perseverance Lift Amy Purdy". espnW. March 12, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ Adaptive Action Sports website Archived May 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Adacs.org (February 25, 2016). Retrieved on September 8, 2016.
  6. ↑ Disabled Sports USA chapters website Archived April 19, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Disabledsportsusa.org (November 29, 2015). Retrieved on September 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ Hughes, Stuart (March 22, 2006). "Back on Board". BBC. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ "What's Bugging Seth? (2005) - Eli Steele | Cast and Crew". AllMovie. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  9. ↑ 2014 espnW Impact 25. Espn.go.com (July 16, 2013). Retrieved on September 8, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Meet the SuperSoul100: The World's Biggest Trailblazers in One Room". O Magazine. August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ Bila, Leticia (March 21, 2022). "Triple Paralympic medallist Purdy announces retirement from snowboarding". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Amy Purdy's partner in crime Daniel Gale". Fabwags. February 20, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  13. ↑ Kwiatkowski, Elizabeth (August 29, 2012). "'The Amazing Race 21' cast and new $2 million grand prize details announced by CBS". Reality TV World. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ Judkis, Maura (February 1, 2015). "Toyota's Super Bowl 2015 commercial is gonna show you how great it is". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  15. ↑ Dos Santos, Kristin (March 4, 2014). "Dancing With the Stars Cast Revealed! Cody Simpson, Nene Leakes and James Maslow Are Among the Names—See the Full List!". EOnline. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  16. ↑ "In Paralympics Opening Ceremony, Amy Purdy of 'Dancing With the Stars' rocks her running blades". Washington Post. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
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