Cato Zahl Pedersen
Cato Zahl Pedersen is a Norwegian skier and multiple Paralympic gold medal winner. He has won a total of fourteen medals at the Paralympic Games, in both Winter and Summer Paralympics. He has no arms, having lost both in a childhood accident.
He competed in track and field athletics at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Paralympics, winning six gold medals. He took part in the Summer Games again in 2000, this time in sailing, but did not medal. At the Winter Paralympics, he competed in alpine skiing four times, in 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1994. At the 1980 and 1984 Winter Games he also took part in cross-country skiing, winning one gold in 1980.
Pedersen took the athletes' oath on behalf of all competitors at the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer.
In 1994/1995, Pedersen took part in a successful four-person Norwegian skiing expedition to the South Pole. He dragged his 200-pound sledge the whole distance, using the prosthetic hook on his right hand to hold a single ski pole.
