Caption: Caption: In the Cybathlon, pilots with complete spinal cord injuries take part in a bike race with the help of functional electrical stimulation.ETH Zurich/Alessandro Della Bella Caption: Caption: In this team event, competitors use powered arm prosthesis to complete a series of tasks. Caption: Caption: Team Avalanche competes in the powered wheelchair race.ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella Caption: Caption: Team Mahidol competes in the computer interface race.ETH Zürich/Nicola Pitaro Caption: Caption: Team Imperial GBR competes in the powered arm prosthesis race.ETH Zürich/Nicola Pitaro Caption: Caption: Team OssurPowerKnee competes in the powered leg prosthesis race.ETH Zürich/Nicola Pitaro Caption: Caption: A participant with limited mobility can climb steps with the help of an exoskeleton.ETH Zurich/Alessandro Della Bella Caption: Caption: Team Meltin competes in the functional electrical stimulation bike race.ETH Zurich/Nicola Pitaro Caption: Caption: Team Varileg competes in teh powered exoskeleton race.ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella Caption: Caption: A competitor in the powered leg prosthesis race.ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella In pop culture, cyborgs can fly, throw cars, and blow up buildings. Nobody did any of those things at the world's first-ever cyborg Olympics--the Cybathlon in Zurich, Switzerland, held earlier this month--but the action was just as miraculous for a different reason. Using the latest bionic technology, disabled competitors paired up with prosthetics developers to accomplish tasks ranging from bread slicing to bike racing. Of the 59 teams, these three triumphed and scored top marks.

Lukas Kalemba was walking home with some friends after a night of partying and drinking in Dortmund, Germany, in 2003. While crossing a bridge along the way, he stopped to rest but lost his balance and fell over. In an attempt to break his fall, he instinctively reached out and grabbed a wire that stretched across. It kept him from falling 20 feet to the ground immediately but the wire sent a high-voltage current through the left side of his body, causing irreparable damage to his leg. Kalemba became an above-the-knee amputee when he was 19 years old.