COURTESY OF KRIGE SCHABORT Krige Schabort has won six wheelchair division titles at the Honolulu Marathon. He goes after No. 7 Sunday.

Schabort went
from survival
to world-class

The wheelchair athlete lost his
legs in war, but now enters
Honolulu Marathon’s
Hall of Fame

Krige Schabort sometimes thinks back to the dividing line of his life.

"The only thing I thought about was 'I don't want to die,' " Schabort said about his most horror-filled experience -- Nov. 2, 1987.

"It happened so quickly. I was looking up in the sky and the rest of the fellows saw (Soviet Union) MiGs flying. I never saw them. One guy saw the bomb coming and ran behind the wall of an old convent. It hit right near me, I did sort of a backward somersault in the air and hit the ground. I looked down and saw what happened and part of my foot was on my chest."

Schabort lost both of his legs, the victim of a Cold War battle between his native South Africa and Soviet-backed Angola.

Naturally, the incident changed his life, but even Schabort couldn't have envisioned all the good fortune that has come his way.

First of all, it's a miracle he's still alive. A few months after he was wounded, Schabort met the doctor who shot adrenaline into his heart to keep him alive. The doctor told him that while operating on Schabort, he didn't think the chances of his survival were high.

Secondly, Schabort has become one of the best wheelchair marathoners in the world. Tonight, he'll be inducted into the Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame at Oahu Country Club as a six-time winner, and on Sunday, he'll defend his title in the 2004 edition of the race.

Last but not least, Schabort went on to meet the woman who would become his wife, Caron. They're raising their two children, 2-year-old Daniel and 6-month-old Simon.

Schabort was an avid surfer and had always been an athlete before the tragedy. So he started racing in 1989 in an old hospital wheelchair.

In 1991, he embarked on a six-month racing circuit and then won a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. By 1993, he started a company to build and sell racing wheelchairs, and in 1997, he moved near Atlanta and began taking 24 racing trips a year.

"I'm always flying somewhere -- Boston, Colorado, New York, Europe, Australia, Japan. And this is my seventh time to Hawaii," said the 41-year-old Schabort, who won a silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. "But I'm just starting to take it easier and not travel as much this year.

"It's getting harder to train and harder to stay away from injuries and harder to be away from my family."

Schabort, who plans to race for a long time to come, considers 2002 and '03 as his best years.

"I won the New York Marathon both years and those are two of my biggest wins," he said. "I've been runner-up three times in Boston. I'm still going to try and win it and I might get lucky."

On Sunday, Schabort considers Japan's Jun Hiromichi as one of the main threats to his Honolulu title.

"I do well when it's windy," said Schabort, whose arms can push his wheelchair to about 40 mph downhill, 20 mph on flat terrain and 9 mph up Diamond Head. "But I don't like rain. It's hard to push when everything is wet."

Of course, wheelchair racing isn't without hazards.

Once, while racing in the Boston Marathon, a 7-year-old girl inadvertently stepped on the course and Schabort collided with her, causing his wheelchair to tip over.

"I really felt for her and was hoping she was all right," he said. "It was unfortunate."

Despite the mishap, Schabort still finished second.

On Sunday, he's eyeing his seventh Honolulu victory.

"This is one of the greatest places to visit -- the weather, the ocean, the people," he said. "When I was younger and surfing a lot, I always dreamed about going to Hawaii. It's a dream come true. I always rent a longboard and go out at Waikiki and play on the small surf.

"I'm really honored about going into the Hall of Fame," added Schabort, who will be the first wheelchair athlete inducted. "Especially since it's in the place that I always wanted to have a connection with."