Paralympic medallist Daniel Wagner on losing his leg at 14 and competing in Dancing with the Stars
It was a jump Daniel Wagner had successfully attempted countless times before.
But this time at a gymnastic show, the double front flip of the trampoline did not go as planned, causing a dramatic change in life for the Dane, aged 14 at that time.
“When I landed, I ended up with all my weight on my right leg in an overstretched position, so my knee dislocated,” Wagner told Olympics.com.
“But because of all the power and the angle I landed, my kneecap went up on my thigh instead of to the side and damaged a lot of things inside the knee.”
Right after the accident, Wagner was rushed to the hospital and put under general anaesthesia to push the kneecap back in place.
Doctors operated on him for 13 hours to try and save his right leg. Ultimately, Wagner’s parents had to make a choice.
Should the doctors continue the surgery with the risk of their son losing his life. Or should they amputate the leg and secure the survival of their son.
They chose the latter.
“The first person I saw, when I woke up was my dad,” Wagner recalls. “He asked me if I knew what had happened. I said; ‘yes the leg is gone’. I knew the leg was not coming back, so I told my dad that there’s nothing to do about it. Then I asked him if I was going to walk again. And when he said yes, then I thought it's probably not so bad."
"I have never actually been sad. I’ve never cried over my misfortune. It was my parents and sister, who were most sad, because they worried if I was ever getting a girlfriend, children and a job. But I was just 14, so the only thing I cared about was when the next computer game was released. And because I just had this drive to move on, it helped my family too.”
The turning points: A back flip on one leg and going to boarding school
Wagner’s positive approach to life proved to be the perfect way to deal with his accident.
Three weeks after the amputation, he had the last stitches removed and went straight to his parents’ backyard, where there was a trampoline.
For 15 minutes, he was just standing nervously on the trampoline. “And then I finally pulled myself together and did a backflip on one leg,” Wagner said. “Then I knew, it’s only myself, who sets the limit.”
Just three months after losing his leg, Wagner started at a gymnastics boarding school. At first, he was not sure if it was the right decision.
However, it turned out to be just what he needed.
“If I had stayed at home, I'm sure I'd start thinking about things. Here, there were so many things happening all the time, and I just had to follow along. There was no time to just sit and feel sorry for myself.”
“Looking back now, I can see that sport was something I really needed. Through sport and gymnastics, I found my way back to life.“
Daniel Wagner: The introduction to athletics
At the boarding school, Wagner and his new friends were testing his new prosthetic leg to the limit during the gymnastics sessions.
It was not made for the sport. Eventually, the holster broke as a result of countless jumps and hard landings.
Therefore, Wagner and his parents started searching for a sports prosthesis.
But being active with this new type of leg proved to be quite a challenge.
“Every weekend for six months, when I was home from boarding school, my dad and I went to the lawn of my former school, where I was trying to run. It was like my prosthesis did not move forward. The first time I was running, I landed right on my face. It turned out that I did not have the right technique.”
Both Wagner and his parents were left frustrated. So, they got in touch with Parasport Denmark, where Wagner was introduced to three-time Paralympic gold medallist in shot put Jackie Christiansen.
A change of the knee in the prosthetic leg and adjustment of technique solved Wagner's problem.
There was still a lot to master it, but Christiansen could see some potential in the teenager. He ended up inviting Wagner to join the para-athletic national team and to come and see a competition in Germany.
“I saw the best leg-amputated athletes in the world doing long jump and sprinting. It was so inspiring, and I got hooked," Wagner said.
"Then I started to do athletics, while I was still in boarding school. I went to some competitions, where I competed in 100m, 200m, and later on long jump. And I found out that I possessed a bit of talent."
It did not take long before Wagner started breaking national records in para-athletics and found himself as an integrated part of the Danish national team. When he finished at boarding school, he was getting more serious with the sport and did less gymnastics. But it was important for him to hold onto gymnastics and still do it at least once a week in the beginning.
Daniel Wagner in Dancing with the stars
Sooner or later, It was inevitable that Wagner would turn his focus one hundred percent to para-athletics.
Just four years after the amputation of his right leg, Wagner competed at the Paralympic Games of London 2012 in the long jump T42/44 category and took a bronze medal. “It felt like a gold medal. I didn’t expect anything”, Wagner said.
At Rio de Janeiro 2016, he won a silver medal in the 100m race and a bronze medal in long jump. At Tokyo 2020 in 2021, he added another bronze to his Olympic collection.
Wagner, who also took part in the snowboarding events at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, had made a name for himself as one of the best para-athletes in Denmark.
In 2022, he was asked if we wanted to participate in the reality show Dancing with the Stars. In fact it was the third time the organisers of show had asked him. This time it did not collide with a busy competition schedule, so Wagner accepted the offer and became the first amputee to feature in the Danish edition.
Surprisingly, for the now 30-year-old para-athlete, he ended up making it all the way to the final.
“It was really a cool experience,” Wagner said. “The first couple of shows, it was almost like being at the European or World Championships. I liked the competitive element, but I was aware that it was a tv show. I didn’t train any athletics those months, as I was hundred percent committed to dancing.”
“I wanted to challenge myself and create some attention around para sport. I wanted to promote it and inspire as many as possible. I danced with the right trouser leg cut off, so you could see the prosthesis, because I wanted to show that it was part of me.“
"I knew nothing about dance before the show, and I had no expectations. I hoped that I wouldn’t go home as the first participant. To end up in second place was crazy."
Daniel Wagner on Paris 2024: Gold is the goal
Halfway through the Dancing with the Stars program, Wagner started getting severe pain in his back. At the time, he did not know what it was, and he continued despite the pain.
Later, Wagner found out that he had suffered two slipped discs. As a consequence, the 2023 season was difficult for the Dane.
“Did the injury happen because of my participation in Dancing with the Stars? Yes, perhaps. But if it hadn’t happened there, it might have happened this season. It was tough last year, but it doesn’t affect me anymore. I had it under control a year before Paris, so instead of being tired of what has happened, I’m glad that it didn’t happen this year.”
Now Wagner is just a couple of months away from competing at his fifth Paralympics event.
A minor injury prevented him from being at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan. But that does not change his objective for Paris 2024. Wagner has won gold at the World and European Championships, besides his four medals at the Paralympic Games.
“I have won everything possible in my sport, except the big gold medal, and I really got my eyes on it in Paris. But a lot of things need to work out for it to happen. There are no guarantees. I was in the lead in Tokyo after five out of six jumps. Then in the last round, two of my rivals jumped longer. And that really hurt."
“I won a bronze medal, but it was not the medal I hoped. It felt like climbing Mount Everest and then slipping right before the top. This time, I need to be in the best possible shape. And if I make all the right decisions in my preparation, then I’ll be well balanced and knowing I’ve done everything I could.”
The 2024 Paralympics in Paris will take place from 28 August to 8 September.