Swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen walks for the first time since ATV accident

By foxsports
Published

Swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen stood up and took her first steps since an ATV accident left her paralyzed from the waist down in June. 

The 41-year-old Olympic champion, who said she felt "1,000 times better" after being released from a Colorado rehabilitation hospital last week, documented her first time standing and walking (with the aid of a walker and leg devices) Thursday on her Instagram account. 

"Standing up for the first time on my own in 2 1/2 months," Van Dyken-Rouen captioned on the following photo: 

"Here it is...I'm WALKING!!! #onestepatatime #itcouldhappen"

Van Dyken-Rouen was paralyzed from the T11-12 vertebrae down after being thrown from an ATV in Arizona on June 6, though she has since said that she's felt movement below her belly button and hopes to regain feeling in her legs some day. 

H/t NBC OlympicTalk.