She is a Paralympic champion, double world champion, triple world record holder and looks set to be a star of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, but Marlou van Rhijn does not think she is anything special.

While visiting Rio de Janeiro last week, the 23-year-old Dutchwoman – nicknamed the ‘Blade Babe’ for her good looks – told rio2016.com that her upbringing ensured that she became a level-headed young woman.

“I've grown up pretty normally,” she said during a visit to the Rio 2016 headquarters. “I have a big sister and a younger brother and we always got on well and were brought up in the same way. My mum always says that we are all the same. So I've never felt that I was more special or something because I didn’t have legs. What makes me special is that I run fast."

Indeed she does. Van Rhijn’s world records in the 100m, 200m and 400m are in the T43 class, which is for double below the knee amputees, but her top times in all three events are faster than the world records for the T44 class, which is for single below the knee amputees. 

Van Rhijn wins the T44 200m gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games (Photo: Getty Images/Julian Finney)

At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Van Rhijn was also the only T43 athlete to run in the 100m and 200m T44 finals, in which she took the silver and gold medals respectively. One year later at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, she won both the 100m and 200m titles.

And all this from someone who came to athletics relatively late, having already represented the Netherlands in swimming. “I swam since I was 12 and when I was 18 years old I quit because I wanted to know what life was like without competing all the time,” she said.

“So I studied, I went to parties, things like that. But I got bored quickly, in half a year. I started doing track because I wanted to play sports again, but a different one. I liked it and that was that.”

Van Rhijn, who uses carbon-fibre blades to run, spoke about Paralympic sport with school children in Rio de Janeiro

Van Rhijn was in Rio with the National Paralympic Committee of the Netherlands and visited the city’s Olympic High Schools – an initiative of the Rio Municipal Government to combine sporting excellence with academic studies – where she gave talks to the children.   

“It is my first time in South America and it’s been very nice,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I've got to know some local children and met people from all over the city. What really impressed me was that everyone was so nice and so happy and they all want to help you. Even if they can’t speak English, they still try.

“I have the feeling that the Rio 2016 Games will be a big party. This country is very sports minded and everyone here is fun and enthusiastic, so I think that the audience will be amazing.”

The bad news for her rivals is that Van Rhijn intends to be even more successful at the 2016 Paralympic Games. “I hope to retain my 200m title, but in the 100m, which was harder for me in London, I have some catching up to do.”