A team of 40 Olympians and Paralympians is working hard for the Ready, Set, Gold programs for American kids this year. The program aims to fight the rise of obesity across the nation. The team Olympians and paralympians are spread throughout the regions to operate in 60 elementary, middle and high schools affecting approximately 17,000 students each year.
One of the paralympians who seemed to be among the favorite of students was Katy Sullivan, an actress and world record holder for 200m dash in 2007 Paralympic National Championships (unofficially). Sullivan was born without legs and has used prosthetics to walk all her life. She tried gymnastics and swimming in her childhood but decided to quit later on because of frustration to win.
In addition, Sullivan also tried getting a degree at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, and have worked on stage, on television and in the movies. But when Sullivan found her first pair of custom-made running legs, it made her feel she could run a bit faster. That is how the world record for 200m dash in 2007 PNC history started, says PBS.
Now, Sullivan, together with the other Olympians and Paralympians, are in the battle to fight obesity for kids through teaching them to be more interested in physical activities and love sports even more. Sullivan's life is truly an inspiration to life's battles and she wants kids to see her as a motivation to go on and fight. If she can run miles, they can too. If she can get fit, they can too.
Obesity in children in the U.S. is too high, according to U.S. Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics. "For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, the prevalence of obesity has remained fairly stable at about 17% and affects about 12.7 million children and adolescents for the past decade." CDC reports.
Meanwhile, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has studied the recent national estimates of childhood obesity and analyze trends and found out that child obesity is relatively high and still need further surveillance. American kids today are being put on the spotlight for being overweight, as compared to other races like Asians, who seem to be more disciplined when it comes to eating habits. Nonetheless, many want to drop stereotyping as not all American kids are obese and not all Asian kids are fit.
