Olympics: Paralympian wants to soar

She has spent years training, competing or earning money in a bid to continue the cycle.

To get that extra edge, she left Japan - where she holds the national records in her class for the 100- and 200-meters and long jump - three years ago to chase her dream at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., with track and field great Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple jump gold medalist.

Those who are close to Nakanishi, 27, say her ambition, dedication and energy are on par with any Olympian they have ever known.

"She is amazing. She's a great athlete," Joyner said. "Her dedication is totally different."

Nakanishi was a standout tennis player in high school. Against her parents' advice, she put off college so she could pursue her ambitions in the sport and ended up working odd jobs to support herself.

When she was 21, that meant cleaning the rust off construction materials at a paint factory.

Work was backing up, and everyone was under orders to step up the pace. She was bent over rubbing a chemical cleaner on a steel beam when a crane operator dumped a 5-ton load where she and another employee were standing.

Five hours later, she had to make a decision. Her right leg, below the knee, had to come off.

After her recovery, she tried to return to the tennis court. But it wasn't the same. She knew she wouldn't be able to play at the same level. More than that, she just felt out of place.

"It was really shocking to me," she said. "I felt like no one understood me."

Athletics was different. There were people like her, races specifically for amputees. She could compete - and that was what she was driven to do. She gave it a try.

In 2007, she entered her first major competition. She shattered the national records in the 100 and 200 for athletes with below-the-knee amputations. The next year, she was representing her country at the Beijing Paralympics. She set a national record again in her 200 semifinal.

"I couldn't keep my focus for the final because I was so excited," she said.

With the 2012 Olympics drawing near, Japan has been inundated with coverage of its able-bodied medal contenders.

"It's hard to get people to care" about Paralympians, she said at a recent meet. "They don't want to think about us."

She hangs around for a while to chat with the other athletes.

Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee who will be racing in the 400 meters at the Olympics, is on everyone's mind. Pistorius, known globally as the Blade Runner, has done what everyone in this meet has dreamed of - he has shown he can compete with the best able-bodied runners in the world.

Nakanishi harbors Olympic dreams of her own. In practice, she says, she has jumped 6 meters, enough to make the Japanese women's team. Joyner says he thinks that should be her next goal.

"I really want to be the next Pistorius, for sure," she said.