Having one less leg hasn't broken the morale of 26-year-old Kortney Clemons, a Penn State athlete and Iraq War veteran.

More than two years after an insurgent Iraqi's bomb claimed his right leg from above the knee, the power-lifter and runner has bounced back and is on his way to the Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this July. Clemons (junior-recreation, park and tourism management) hopes to qualify for the summer 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Hailing from Little Rock, Miss., a town of about 2,000, Clemons is one of four that made the U.S. team.

His father, Mitch Clemons, said his son started lifting weights while in Iraq in hopes of becoming a professional football player, but the injury made him rethink his entire lifestyle.

At the hospital, Clemons told his father his injury was "just a bump in the road."

"They could have given my mother a flag, but things didn't happen that way," he said.

Mitch Clemons said though he was angered by the news at first, his son's positive outlook toward the loss of his leg helped him understand that he did it for his country.

"I feel like if he had to do it over, he would do it again," Mitch Clemons said. "Really, I think by him losing that limb [it] made him a better, better man."

If Clemons finishes in the top six in the world in Brazil, then he will automatically make the Beijing team, said Teri Jordan, disability recreation programs coordinator at Penn State and Clemons' coach. Clemons is currently No. 11 in the world in his power-lifting class.

"When he started, he was [lifting] a little under 300 [pounds]," Jordan said. "He just did 341 this weekend with a hurt shoulder. It's believable that he'll be over that by Rio."

The power-lifter also competes in the 100-meter race, where he went from 18 seconds flat to 15.4 last year and won the national championship, Jordan said. She added that he's already run a 14.14-second race, under the world-qualifying mark for Beijing of 14.4.

Clemons, who sometimes uses a Segway, a motorized scooter, to get around campus, said he's learning to live with his prosthetic leg and synchronize it with his left when running.

"The hardest thing is just getting around campus, like going up and down the different terrains and stuff," he said "With time, I've gotten used to it. [It's hard] just trying to get the equipment to mimic the left side of my body -- just getting everything set up properly."

He said his speed depends on how fast his prosthetic leg will let him go.

If he qualifies for both weightlifting and track, Clemons said he would prefer to only compete in the 100-meter race in Beijing.

Jordan said, more than his accomplishments, Clemons' encouragement and positive influence represent the type of person he is.

"The cool thing about other people with disabilities, we feed off each other," Clemons said. "We know that we all have a struggle, and it's not easy, and we all just try to adapt and overcome, and try to live a normal life like everyone else does without disabilities."

In May 2006, Clemons competed on the World USA Powerlifting Team in Seoul, South Korea. Later, in July, he won the 100-meter event at the World Paralympic Track and Field Trials in Atlanta.