Zion Clark Biography: The Wrestler Born Without Legs And Holds World Record

During the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a young man named Ghanim Al Muftah and the American actor Morgan Freeman put on a performance that wowed the crowd and reminded the world that people without legs can do a lot. He brought to mind champions like Oscar Pistorius and Zion Clark.

The latter smashed all the race records on two hands. An intrepid wrestler, he has just broken two world records listed in the prestigious Guinness Book. Who is Zion Clark? We take you into his universe where there is no place for discouragement.

Zion Clark's records sound like revenge on life. Born with a rare birth defect called Caudal Regression Syndrome which left him without legs, he had to fight on his own, given up for adoption at birth by his mother who was unable to care for him. We are giving you the portrait of one of the greatest athletes in the world who may soon be one of the richest sportsmen. You can also check out Joe Rogan Net Worth.

Profile of Zion Clark

Biography of Zion Clark

Zion Clark is one such man who has defied all odds, time and again, to set Guinness World Records not once but three times. The wrestler was born without legs because of a rare condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome.

Zion Clark was born on September 29, 1997, in Columbus, the capital and most populous city of the US state of Ohio. He was born without legs, due to a rare birth defect called caudal regression syndrome, caudal regression sequence, sacral agenesis, or caudal dysgenesis.

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Little Zion Clark was abandoned at birth by his mother who had not accepted the state of her son, in addition to being single. We can therefore imagine that Zion's childhood was not easy. He went from one foster family to another before being definitively abandoned to his fate by his entourage at the age of 17, starting from his ninth foster family.

“I grew up in foster care for the first seventeen years of my life, and in that system, there is a lot of pain and a lot of abuse. It made my life very difficult,” he said in a Guinness Book of World Records statement.

To cope with the cruelty of life, Zion soon embraced sports and music. It was in elementary school that he got into wrestling and started learning to play the drums. On LinkedIn, Zion Clark clarified that his passions allowed him to find his bearings. “I found myself through my passion for wrestling and music, which gave me hope to continue living. This is how I saw my life shift from surviving to thriving, believing in myself, and finding my own way of doing things,” he wrote.

However, it was after elementary school that the young athlete began to take wrestling more seriously. At Massillon High School, Zion met coach Gil Donahue. The latter quickly noticed that the young handicapped were passionate about sports. The two lovers of athletics have become friends. Zion's abnegation and his sense of ethics marked the coach.

“I started wrestling in the second year. When I was really young, the first matches, I didn't know what to do and neither did my opponent. Some children were afraid to beat me, I was also afraid to fight them. I didn't know what I was doing. I adapted my wrestling through a lot of trial and error. I spent years figuring out what would work. I now train twice a day, about six days a week. And all this I was able to do thanks to the support of my host family. It's hard work, it's a lifestyle. Being born without legs didn't stop me from doing the things I want to do.

For three years, Zion developed impressive athletic qualities. He then launched into competitions and his first victories quickly fell. His senior year in high school was crowned with scholarships he earned thanks to his wrestling skills. This is how he joined Kent State University in Ohio in 2018, among the many universities that had opened their doors to him. That year, he explained that wrestling is a sport that teaches him values ??like patience and perseverance.

For the next 2 years, he steadily improved and developed his skills. As he climbed the national rankings, Zion Clark gained confidence and began to harbor ambitions of becoming the first American athlete to compete in the Olympics as a wrestler, and the Paralympic Games in running events in a Wheelchair. His dream then was to represent the United States in Tokyo in 2020.

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To achieve this, the athlete surrounded himself with a very dedicated team. Aside from his wrestling training, Zion also took an interest in weightlifting, bench press, wheelchair weightlifting, and circus arts, due to his impressive upper-body strength and athleticism.

During his senior year in college, Zion impressed in a qualifying match for the DI Ohio High School State Wrestling Championships. He faced an opponent 20 pounds heavier than him. After a grueling 6 minutes of regulation time and 2 overtimes, Zion went down 1-0 in sudden death. His efforts and his determination were more applauded than the coronation of his adversary.

A few months later, Zion returned to the arena, but for a high school track wheelchair race as part of the state championships. He won the event hands down.

Movie and Television Awards

Through her Herculean efforts, Zion has always commanded admiration. He was noticed by Hollywood producer Floyd Russ who filmed his journey. The documentary film titled Zion has been hailed by audiences and critics alike. Available on Netflix, Zion garnered acclaim at the end of its run at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2018, where it competed in the short film category for the Grand Jury Prize.

In 2019, Zion won two Emmy Awards, the equivalent of television's Oscars, in the sports documentaries category. On February 15, 2021, the one who has not finished getting his revenge on life became a speaker. Now, Zion divides his time between his workouts and the talks he gives across America in the area of ??motivation and personal development.

Zion further commanded respect by becoming the fastest man in the world to run on hands. On October 13, 2022, in Los Angeles, United States, he entered the prestigious Guinness Book with two world records, including the highest jump on a box with his hands and the most push-ups. He alternately jumped on an 83 cm high box representing the average height of a 2-year-old child and performed 248 diamond push-ups in three minutes.

Zion Clark already has his eyes set on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. He really hopes to be the first Olympic and Paralympic athlete to participate in the same Olympics. In his lectures, Zion tells his own story and emphasizes the lesson that things don't always go well in life...but to be successful, you have to adapt to your personal circumstances.

Zion Clark has a girlfriend he gets along with very well. Her name is Bodacious Teitei. She is a model.

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