Eight year old Maisie Catt, who lost her legs to meningitis, is being tipped to win Paralympic gold, weeks after taking up the martial art of taekwondo
Maisie had her legs amputated as a baby - one above the knee and one below. She began taekwondo in January after watching her brother Finlay, five, having lessons.
Now, after three months' training, she has been selected to join an elite training programme.
Her mother Sharon, 41, spoke with the Daily Express and said she believes nothing will now hold Maisie back after her life was transformed when she started wearing prosthetic blades a year ago.
"Maisie watched Finlay having lessons from the side and just said, "I want to do that"."
"We spoke to his instructor at the club and they agreed, and since then she has just got stuck in. She started after Christmas and loves it."
"Everybody at the club treats her exactly the same as every other child and that is all we wanted. Her disability has never been an issue."
Talented
Maisie has been selected for the limb deficiency category and has dreams of one day competing at the Paralympics, with the sport set to be included in the Games for the first time in 2020.
Sharon, of Mirfield, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, added, "Maisie's instructor was contacted by a member of the Great Britain talent squad who had heard about her story."
Maisie wore prosthetic legs until she was seven, when funding for blades became available through the NHS.
Sharon said, "Maisie got her first set of prosthetics when she was nine months old and had to learn to walk with them."
"Last year, we got the opportunity to try the blades and they have transformed her life."
"She just wants to inspire other people. She wants others like her to go try anything. Anybody can do anything they set their mind to, in spite of any difficulties."
