When Karoly Takacs, a sergeant in the Hungarian army, lost his shooting hand in a grenade explosion, it was as if a pianist had lost his fingers or a bird its wings. Competing in the Olympics of 1940 didn’t just seem unlikely—it seemed impossible. But Takacs didn’t surrender to fate. He quietly made his way to London, where he was asked, “Why have you come? "He replied simply, “I have come to learn.”