Ebba Orcho shows her leg for the first time – to help others

Parastjärnan: “He wants to help others be daring”

Almost all her life, Ebba Årsjö did everything to hide her right leg that was weak in muscles.

Now she shows it on her Instagram account.

– The reason is that I’m ready from heaven. There are many who question and ask and do not understand. I also hope it helps others dare to be themselves, she says.

The alpine parachute star got a lot of attention when last winter she won two golds and took a bronze at the Paralympics, despite major injury issues.

Orshaw, 21, has a muscle loss in her right leg, which is a side effect of the syndrome she was born with, Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome.

She kept her job difference a secret for 18 years. Now anyone wants to see what her right leg looks like. She posted a bikini-clad photo, taken on a balcony in Mallorca, with the text: “Yes, corner, that’s me. Don’t forget to love yourself.”

Trinidad and Tobago: What made you make the decision?

– I thought over a year ago that I wanted to do it. All this year, I’ve been counting down the months until I take some pretty pictures and upload them, she says.

– I talk about being a role model, I talk about everything I do but I haven’t seen my legs yet.

Trinidad and Tobago: What do you want to achieve with pictures?

– I hope this is useful to others. I feel like I can really influence people and when you hear that you’ve been helping, you get really happy in the whole body. All individual athletes are very “ego”, think only of themselves and win. Here I get something else when I buy, do something bigger.

Questioned by other skaters

The publication is also to silence the skeptics.

Many have questioned, asked and questioned. Some even got a bit angry and thought that “she shouldn’t be here”, “she’s lying” etc. Other coaches and skaters wondered why I was with when my legs seemed to be healthy.

Orcho is open about how career difference has shaped it.

– I’m not me but this leg. In recent years, it has become like identity. I make money because of my leg, I’ve made a lot of new friends, I have a lot of goals and I’m happy with my feet.

Previously, it affected me more negatively. You frustrated me, you were a burden and I felt hate. It’s still a burden with pain and medical issues, but it’s something I’m used to dealing with.

I urge others to dare to be themselves, regardless of whether they have functional disparity or not.

excavator job

TT: What are you doing now?

– I help my parents, I work a little in the summer when others are on vacation. I drive an excavator.

– My dad has a recycling company. We collect, split and sell tires from all over Sweden. I’ve been doing this for several summers as a little extra work.

TT: A future job after skiing?

– I’m starting to lean a little towards it. Every year, I think about it, that he might not be that stupid after all. And my dad does “Ah, when are you going to take over next?”

My father has to bear it. Iba Orcho with skiing. The World Cup awaits in Ur winter, and in August it is planned to be on skis again, on a glacier in Switzerland.

Hunger started

Trinidad and Tobago: Didn’t the massive success of winter keep you full?

– After the Paralympics, I was so tired of it. I was injured, which is why I haven’t skated since the Paralympics. But I’m starting to feel a little thirsty.

TT: What about the knee injury you had in China?

– Now the rehabilitation process begins with the transition to normal exercises, but it hurts in the knees. It will probably never end, but it works and I’m used to it.