Richard Whitehead

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Richard Whitehead 2012

Richard Whitehead (born July 19, 1976 in Lowdham, Nottinghamshire , England ) is a British athlete who has been missing both legs from the knees down from birth. He has specialized in long distances , especially marathons and half marathons , but since 2010 he has also been active on the 200 and 400 meters . Whitehead holds several world records in these disciplines.

life and career

Despite his physical impairment, Richard Whitehead was successful in various sports at an early age. In 1991 he won four gold, three silver and two bronze medals in swimming at the World Youth Games in Australia. In 2005 and 2006 he was a member of the British disabled cricket team. In 2006 he took part in sledge ice hockey at the Winter Paralympics in Turin.

He started his career as a track and field athlete in 2004, initially without prosthetic feet, but only with special shoes on his knees. It was not until the preparation phase for the New York Marathon that he switched to high-quality Össur prostheses and was able to complete the distance in 5:18 hours. With the help of his trainer Liz Yelling , he managed to continuously improve his times over several years, most recently at 2:42:52 hours in the Chicago Marathon 2010. He also took part in ultramarathons with distances of up to 90 kilometers. Since 2010, Whitehead has also been competing on the 200 and 400 meter courses, also due to the fact that with the T42 classification (amputation above the knee) there is no possibility for him to take part in long-distance competitions at World Championships or the Paralympics .

With the support of the British Athletics Federation and sponsorship money, Richard Whitehead is able to take care of the sport full-time. He currently lives in Nottingham .

Successes (excerpt)

Richard Whitehead (left) at the 2009 Boston Marathon
  • 100 meters - 12.97 seconds ( London , 7 September 2012) - 2012 Paralympics
  • 100 meters - 12.32 seconds (silver medal, Rio de Janeiro , September 15, 2016) - Paralympics 2016
  • 100 meters - 13.58 seconds ( Stoke Mandeville , July 30, 2011) - Stoke Mandeville Disability Athletics Challenge
  • 200 meters - 24.10 seconds (world record T42, Doha , October 27 and 28, 2015) - IPC World Championship
  • 200 meters - 24.38 seconds (then world record T42, London , September 3, 2012) - Paralympics 2012
  • 200 meters - 25.88 seconds (gold medal, Christchurch , January 24, 2011) - IPC World Championship
  • 400 meters - 56.49 seconds (personal record, Nottingham, September 19, 2009) - CP Sport Grand Prix
  • 400 meters - 57.06 seconds (world record T42, Manchester , May 27, 2011) - BT Paralympic World Cup
  • 800 meters - 2: 15.34 minutes (Nottingham, September 19, 2009) - CP Sport Grand Prix
  • 5 miles (8047 meters) - 28:03 minutes (Holme Pierrepont, May 13, 2009) - Notts AAA's Summer League
  • 10,000 yards - 36:52 minutes (Southwell, December 28, 2008) - Southwell 10K
  • Half Marathon - 1:14:59 hours (World Record, Reading , March 21, 2010) - Reading Half Marathon
  • Marathon - 2:42:52 hours (world record, Chicago , October 10, 2010) - Chicago Marathon
  • Marathon - 2:56:45 hours (first time of a double leg amputee under 3 hours, Rome , March 22, 2009) - Rome Marathon
  • Ultra Marathon (56 km) - 6:13:00 hours ( Cape Town , April 15, 2006) - Two Oceans Marathon
  • Ultra marathon (89.17 km) - 9:54:21 hours ( Durban - Pietermaritzburg , June 17, 2007) - Comrades Marathon

Others

  • Richard Whitehead's motto, which he also had a tattoo on his forearm, is “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”, in German something like “Come time, come advice”.
  • Whitehead jokingly claims the title "Fastest man on no legs", alluding to Oscar Pistorius , at least as far as the distances above 400 meters are concerned.
  • In 2000 he had an extra role as the wounded man in Gladiator .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Whitehead, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British athlete
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Lowdham, Nottinghamshire , England