Minda Dentler: What I learned when I conquered the world's toughest triathlon
Minda Dentler: Lo que aprendí cuando conquisté el más duro triatlón del mundo
A record-setting triathlete, Minda Dentler is a polio survivor committed to inspiring people to move beyond their fear of failure and achieve their goals. Full bio
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por lo que parecía
like a never-ending barren hill.
up to a town called Hawi
hasta una ciudad llamada Hawi
mis músculos ardiendo.
emanaba del asfalto, casi 37 ºC.
measuring almost 98 degrees.
of the bike portion
del recorrido en bici
events in the world.
de un día del mundo.
in our family living room.
en nuestra sala de estar familiar.
orange and brown sofa,
sofá naranja y marrón de los años 70
completamente asombrada
pushed themselves to their limit
se empujaban a sí mismos hasta el límite
no eran solo espectadores.
from the sidelines,
desde los lados,
or handing out water at local races.
en las carreras locales.
to be able to compete, but I couldn't.
practicar deportes,
hospital in high school.
en el instituto.
hice prácticas en la Casa Blanca,
all by myself
por un trabajo como consultaa de empresa.
for a job in management consulting,
y me casé.
to the sport of hand-cycling,
del ciclismo manual,
an Ironman World Champion,
un campeón mundial de Ironman,
para atletas con discapacidades.
race in the sport,
más antigua en este deporte,
it's like the Super Bowl of triathlon.
es como el Super Bowl en triatlón.
en silla de ruedas como yo,
for a wheelchair athlete like me,
in the Pacific Ocean,
in lava fields --
en bicicleta manual por campos de lava...
and it's pretty desolate --
y está bastante desolado...
a una temperatura de 32 ºC
of 140.6 miles using just your arms
de 226,3 km usando solo tus brazos,
had ever completed the race
había nunca completado la carrera
seemingly impossible cutoff times.
imposibles tiempos límites.
of that 15-mile climb,
de esa escalada de 24 km,
to make that swim in my time limit
ese recorrido con mi tiempo límite
fuera de tiempo.
and I handed it over to a race official.
y se lo entregué a un oficial de carrera.
and my husband Shawn
y mi esposo Shawn
to drive me back to town.
para llevarme de vuelta a la ciudad.
I began to cry.
comencé a llorar.
the Ironman World Championship
el Campeonato Mundial de Ironman
my family and people at work
mi familia y mi gente en el trabajo
I had assumed or planned?
yo había asumido o planeado?
to Shannon about the Kona "disaster,"
con Shannon sobre el "desastre" de Kona,
be realized when you're ready to fail."
solo pueden hacerse realidad
in order to move forward,
para avanzar,
that I had faced insurmountable odds.
unas probabilidades insuperables.
I contracted polio,
contraje polio,
from the hips down.
de las caderas hacia abajo.
left me at an orphanage.
me dejó en un orfanato.
por una familia estadounidense,
by an American family,
I underwent a series of surgeries
me sometí a una serie de cirugías
with leg braces and crutches.
con rodilleras y muletas.
with my disability.
about wearing a back brace and leg braces,
y aparatos ortopédicos,
under my pants.
debajo de los pantalones.
heavy braces on my legs
que esos aparatos gruesos y pesados
of the very few individuals in the US
de mi generación en los EE. UU.
provocada por la polio hoy.
by polio today.
in developing countries
en los países desarrollados
medical care, education,
atención médica, educación,
like I have had in America.
como yo las he tenido en EE. UU.
para llegar a la edad adulta.
that, had I not been adopted,
de que,si no hubiera sido adoptada,
wouldn't be in front of you today.
no estaría frente a Uds. hoy.
aparentemente insuperables.
lo que yo aprendí,
friends and competitors,
amigos y competidores,
went off promptly at 7am.
sonó tempranamente las 7 am.
manteniéndome entre esos cuerpos,
staying in between bodies,
de vez en cuando
every so often
and he carried me out of the water.
when Shawn had told me I had managed
cuando Shawn me dijo que había logrado
de una hora y 43 minutos.
to complete the 112-mile bike course.
para completar un recorrido de 180 km.
in seven- to 10-mile segments in my mind
y 16 km en mi mente
la magnitud de la carrera.
as we benefited from a little tail wind.
de un poco de viento de cola.
I was in serious time jeopardy
que estaba en serio peligro de tiempo
and less than 90 minutes,
y menos de 90 minutos,
a few sizable hill climbs.
de considerable dificultad.
that time cutoff again.
el tiempo límite.
my internal voice aside that said,
mi voz interna que decía,
"Minda, you better focus.
"Minda, mejor concéntrate.
en lo que puedes controlar,
and your effort."
as though my life depended on it.
dependiera de eso.
competitors to make the bike cutoff."
competidores que pasa el turno de bici".
for 10-and-a-half hours.
durante 10 horas y media.
went pretty quickly,
fueron bastante rápidos,
de finalmente pasar a la gente
to the bottom of Palani hill,
al pie de la colina Palani,
a una colina de 800 m
that looked like Mt. Everest
estaban listos en sus estaciones
were ready at their stations
just so I wouldn't tip backwards.
para no volcarme hacia atrás.
the top of that hill,
15-mile stretch onto the Queen K Highway,
muy solitario de 24 km
on one push at a time.
en un empujón cada vez.
onto Ali'i Drive.
en Ali'i Drive.
and I was overcome with emotion.
y me embargó la emoción.
was 14 hours and 39 minutes.
fue 14 horas y 39 minutos.
commitment to myself,
personal conmigo misma,
that completing the Ironman
but preventable diseases,
pero evitables.
afflicted by vaccine-preventable diseases.
con vacunas.
to eliminating one of those diseases
de eliminar una de esas enfermedades
more than 350,000 children a year
40 cases an hour.
de 40 casos por hora.
have reported a total of only 12 cases.
han informado un total de solo 12 casos.
have been immunized against polio,
dos y medio millones de niños
paralyzed like me,
parálisis como yo,
una amenaza muy real,
in the poorest communities of the world.
en las comunidades más pobres del mundo.
and dangerous places,
de los lugares más remotos
two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maya.
de dos años y medio, Maya.
en el parque,
or kick a ball across the grass.
o patear una pelota sobre la hierba.
that I see her do at her age
que la veo hacer a su edad
do at that age.
hacer a esa edad.
su primera vacuna contra la polio.
in the room to prepare the shot,
a la habitación para prepararla,
to document the moment.
para documentar el momento.
welling up with tears.
llenándose de lágrimas.
would be very different from mine.
sería muy diferente a la mía.
with the crippling disability of polio,
de la polio,
and I chose to get her immunized.
y elegí vacunarla.
with one question:
con una pregunta:
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Minda Dentler - Athlete, activistA record-setting triathlete, Minda Dentler is a polio survivor committed to inspiring people to move beyond their fear of failure and achieve their goals.
Why you should listen
Minda Dentler's life is one of inspiration, courage and determination. As an infant in India, she contracted polio, resulting in the paralysis of her legs, and was left at an orphanage. When she was three, she was adopted by an American family which enabled her to receive the medical care necessary to be able to walk with leg braces and crutches.
Undeterred by her disability, Dentler became an independent woman with the intention and drive to face and overcome the many obstacles she has encountered throughout her life. As an adult, she discovered athletics and threw herself into the sport of triathlon. In 2013, she became the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the Ironman World Championship, in Kona, Hawaii.
Dentler is an athlete, speaker, advocate and mother. She has been featured on CNN, Forbes and NBC. She has written for Huffington Post and TIME, advocating for the eradication of polio. She was a 2017 Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow. She works for a large global insurer and, with her husband, is raising a young daughter. She's committed to inspiring people to move beyond their fear of failure and achieve their goals.
Minda Dentler | Speaker | TED.com