Richard Whitehead MBE (born 19 July 1976) is a British athlete. He runs with prosthetic legs, as he has a double through-knee congenital amputation.
 Richard Whitehead with his Paralympic Gold medal at the Our Greatest Team Parade | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 19 July 1976 Nottingham |
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Great Britain |
| Sport | Running |
| Achievements and titles | |
| World finals | 2012 London 200m – 24.38s (WR) |
Medal record | |
He set world records for athletes with a double amputation, in both the full and half marathon.[1] At the 2010 Chicago Marathon, he broke his previous world record for athletes with lower-limb amputations, with a time of 2:42:52.[2] Whitehead's marathon record was beaten by 28 seconds by Marko Cheseto at the 2019 Boston Marathon.[3]
Whitehead was unable to compete in the marathon at London 2012 as there was no category for leg amputees, and was refused permission by the IPC to compete against upper-body amputees and so had to turn to sprinting to compete at the 2012 Paralympics, where he won the gold medal in the 200m T42 Athletics event with a world record time of 24.38 seconds.[4][5]
His earlier career was a swimming and dance teacher at Clifton Leisure Centre in Nottingham. He is a former ice sledge hockey player, and competed for the GB team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin.
Whitehead was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to athletics.[6][7]
Whitehead was appointed the first-ever patron of Sarcoma UK, the bone- and soft-tissue cancer charity, on 28 January 2013.[8]
His name was added to the Nottingham City Transport bus service "Pathfinder 100" on 18 September 2012; the bus links his home village of Lowdham with Southwell and Nottingham.
On 21 April 2013 he competed in the London Marathon coming in 23rd place with a time of 3:15:53.
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Whitehead won gold in the T42 200 metres[9] and silver in the T42 100 metres, which he shared with Denmark's Daniel Wagner after the pair finished in a dead heat for second.[10]
In 2013, he launched his fundraising campaign, "Richard Whitehead Runs Britain", to run from John O'Groats to Land's End.[11]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Whitehead won silver in the T61 200 metres.[12]
In 2022, Whitehead took part in Channel 4's Celebrity Hunted. He was caught 5th, after falling over a gate, and subsequently lying low in a field. His teammate Iwan Thomas successfully made it to the extraction point to win.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Sprinter Whitehead secures cash boost after golden display, thisisbristol.co.uk, 16 February 2011
- ^ Richard Whitehead Sets New World Best in Chicago Marathon, oandp.com, 26 October 2010
- ^ Bragg, Beth (15 April 2019). "Former Anchorage runner Cheseto clocks world's fastest marathon by a double amputee". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ Gibson, Owen (1 September 2012). "Paralympics 2012: Richard Whitehead sprints to glory in T42 200m final". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ "Paralympics 2012: Richard Whitehead wins 200m gold for GB". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "No. 60367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 25.
- ^ NY13 Honours – London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Cabinet Office
- ^ "About Richard Whitehead MBE". 3 July 2013.
- ^ "Men's 200m – T42 – Final". Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- ^ "Men's 100m – T42 – Final". Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- ^ "Richard Whitehead Runs Britain".
- ^ "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- Athlete Search Results – Whitehead, Richard, International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
- Richard Whitehead: Forget Oscar Pistorius – I'm the fastest man on no legs, insideworldparasport.biz, 18 March 2010