Andre van Rüschen slowly climbed a five-step ramp at the end of his race. With a black processor strapped to his back and leg supports on either side of his lower limbs, he stayed focused on the body-machine coordination that was keeping him upright. He had walked over a wooden slope, criss-crossed bright yellow bars and tried to step on gray discs that were placed irregularly on the floor. Now, standing atop the last obstacle in the exoskeleton race, he took a moment to pause and look up at his opponent on the adjacent track. They were both on the ramp, going head-to-head at the world's first Cybathlon, a sporting competition designed for people with severe disabilities.

Mark Muhn is used to watching from his wheelchair as his kids win trophies for their achievements on the sports field. He's been in that wheelchair since 2008, when a skiing accident crushed his spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down. Last Saturday, though, Mark was the one on the podium with a gold medal draped around his neck. "I've watched my kids win, but this time they got to watch me," he says. Muhn won gold at the Cybathlon, the world's first cyborg Olympics, which took place this weekend in a sold-out stadium in Zurich, Switzerland.