In June of 2020, Alessandro Zanardi suffered severe head injury during a hand-cycling race in Italy, when he collided with a truck and needed to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. After several brain surgeries, a medically-induced coma, and almost a year later, Zanardi is now talking to his family and, thankfully, is on track to recovery. It’s yet another display of resilience from Zanardi, who is no stranger to overcoming traumatic injuries. This new documentary, “Disability is All Relative”, sheds light on Zanardi’s life, career, and incredible perseverance through so much hardship.
Rewind a decade ago, in September 2001, Zanardi was involved in a devastating crash, in which his CART racing car spun and was hit from the side, taking the entire front of the car off. In the crash Zanardi lost both of his legs and almost lost his life to blood loss. Thankfully, the medical response was fast enough to save his life but further amputation of his legs was necessary.
Despite the horrific injuries, Alex Zanardi’s competitive spirit would not be denied. After losing his legs, Zanardi would go on to compete in handcycling and even the Paralympics. More than that, though, he actually got back behind the wheel again, racing cars modified with hand controls. He even competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona with BMW, alongside John Edwards and Jesse Krohn.
In his opening quote of the documentary, Zanardi says “We all have to deal with restrictions in a certain way. It is all relative. Life is a journey and we have to accept our limits. No person can fly like a bird, so you try to deal with the problem if you cannot overcome it.”
His life is an incredible journey of resilience, courage, and heart, and this documentary is going to be a great dive into his amazing life and career. You can watch the documentary this Sunday, 2nd May, at 19:30 CEST on German Sky Sport F1 or on Amazon (in Germany, UK and USA).
