Last Leg Co-Host Gives Teary, Powerful Speech About Importance Of The Paralympics

The Paralympics are without a question of a doubt, brilliant.

Amazing athletes, displaying amazing power and strength over eleven straight days of sporting magnificence.

But to Last Leg co-host Alex Brooker, one Paralympian in particular - Italy’s Alex Zarnadi - is especially inspiring. Alex who co-presents the Channel 4 show, opened up about his own disability last night when he gave a touching tribute to Alex; a cyclist who won a silver medal exactly 15 years after he had both legs amputated following a horrific CART accident.

He said:

“He’s my hero, more so than Justin Timberlake or Thierry Henry… Because the great thing about Alex Zanardi is not only is he a world class athlete but his attitude to disability is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.”

Alex, who was born with multiple disabilities and wears a prosthetic leg, further explained:

“I’ve overcome a lot of issues with my disability over the years and as I get into later life I’ve got new ones to come - how I’ll cope when I have a child, how I’ll hold my child for the first time.

“These are things that I think and worry about - even though I portray on here that I’m confident.

“But to see someone like that talk the way he does means the world and it inspires me and makes me proud to be disabled, and that epitomises the Paralympic games for me.”

You can watch his powerful speech in full here:

Is anybody else redoing their Friday night makeup….