Quote graphic of Femita Ayanbeku. Quote reads, "I didn't have anyone to tell me, 'It's okay, you're different, but you're beautiful."
“You know what,” thought Ayanbeku, “you’re right. So what? There’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to accept it.”
Mostly, she was tired of hiding her disability.
“I’d had enough hot summers,” she said.
So, on spring break that year in New York with Caitlihn, Ayanbeku wore shorts for the first time since the accident and walked around Brooklyn. She did not care if anyone looked at her, she was going to own it. She posted a picture on Instagram.
“Everybody at school was like, ‘We saw you, we saw the picture, we’re so proud of you,’” she said. “It was relieving.”
Looking back, Ayanbeku said she wasted seven years of her life feeling insecure about her body.
“I didn’t have anyone to tell me, ‘It’s okay, you’re different, but you’re beautiful,’” she said.
Now, Ayanbeku strives to be the person to give amputees that message — and to tell everyone else to accept people for both their likenesses and differences. She started Limb-It-Less Creations, a non-profit to support and raise awareness for the amputee community and others with disabilities.
When she was introduced to the Paralympic movement at track nationals in June 2016 (a few months after she was given a blade for her advocacy work), Ayanbeku learned a whole new level of body acceptance. At para track nationals, she was surrounded by athletes who had varying disabilities, and everybody was “just rocking it.”
“It was like Disney World for me to see all of these other people, and everyone was owning it,” she explained. “It was a huge boost for me to be in that environment and realize I’m different to the rest of the world, but when I come here, I’m able to find a place where we’re all different and nobody cares.”
“And when we go out into the world, we have to project that,” she added.
Quote graphic of Femita Ayanbeku. Quote reads, "I have goals to execute and run the best race that I can. That is my goal. As long as I do that, I'm going to be happy with whatever happens."
Overcoming Disappointment
Ayanbeku’s road to her first Paralympic Games in 2016 was rapid, coming less than a year after she first sprinted with a blade. She did not qualify for the final in the 100-meter dash but finished sixth in the 200 in Rio. Most importantly, she had the fire to improve.
But the Paralympian had to learn to balance progress with disappointment. She qualified for the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, but then committed a false start in the 100 and was disqualified.
Two years later, she won a bronze medal in the 100 but not without pain. She had developed such a bad blister on her stump that doctors had to surgically lance it before her competition.
Then before heading to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo—postponed a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic—Ayanbeku set an American record in the 100 and had her eye on a Paralympic medal in Tokyo.
“Honestly, I was planning on winning,” she confessed.
But once in Tokyo, she tested positive for Covid and had to isolate for seven days. She was able to work out in her room and was released from isolation two days before competition. But she was mentally drained.
“I probably should have stayed off of social media,” she admitted. “But being in my room all day by myself, it was hard not to be on my phone. I was seeing all my competitors and teammates outside training. It was a whole mental game for me at that point, and it got the best of me.”
She did not advance to the finals in either the 100 or the 200.
From these disappointments, Ayanbeku has learned to “push through.”
“I learned you have to shake things off and not dwell on them,” she said. “You have to get ready for the next one.”
Heading to Paris
The next one for Ayanbeku are the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024.
This time, she has goals — particularly in the 100, where she would like to set a world record. But those goals are about process, not hardware.
“I have goals to execute and run the best race that I can,” she stated. “That is my goal. As long as I do that, I’m going to be happy with whatever happens.”
And if Ayanbeku could give advice to a young amputee looking to get into the Paralympic movement, she would pass on a message that applies to all humanity: “Do not expect it to be easy. But if you put in the work, nobody can put limits on the things that you can accomplish.”
