Paralympic hero #3: Matt Stutzman

On paper, Matt Stutzman comes across as a dyed-in-the-flannel redneck. The official London 2012 website lists his hobbies as "cars", and by all accounts he loves nothing (or perhaps more accurately nothin') more than huntin', shootin' and fishin'. His personal website looks like a cry for help from a kidnapped designer circa 1999. He's from Iowa, for crying (cryin') out loud. It's fair to say we weren't expecting - or even expectin' - to be friends.

Then we saw him win a silver medal in compound archery by gripping a bow between his prehensile toes and aiming arrows with his mouth. You see, Matt Stutzman is a double arm amputee. And just like the swimmers we mentioned in our last post, he's competing against and beating rivals with arms, despite only having picked up a bow for the first time two years ago. So while he might be mostly armless, he's positively lethal to bullseyes and bunny rabbits. We just hope he isn't familiar with the plot of the Jonathan Creek pilot…

Sadly we couldn't find any footage of him in action at the Paralympics, but we do rather like the below interview conducted as part of Team USA's preparations for the Games. It starts a little slowly, but don't be deterred by his riveting tales of hole-punch debris and doorknobs - the slow-motion shots capturing his technique are spectacular. By the time he delivers his inspirational closing message, we're sure you'll want to join us in cheering him all the way to gold in Rio.