Ruzhdi Ruzhdi ( bg, Ружди Ружди) (born 14 April 1991) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n Paralympian track and field athlete, competing in throwing events:

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

. He represented

at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

, winning the gold medal in shot put in class F55, and setting a new world record of .

Personal history

Ruzhdi was born on 14 April 1991 in the small northeastern town of

Glodzhevo Glodzhevo ( bg, Глоджево, also transliterated ''Glojevo'' or ''Glodjevo'', ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Vetovo Municipality, Rousse Province Ruse Province ( bg, Област Русе, translit=Oblast Ruse), or Rusenska ...

, Bulgaria.Профил от Световното състезание в Доха
paralympic.org When he was 17, he survived a car crash, but was left paralysed from the waist down.Ружди Ружди – шампионът на Делиормана
disabledsportsbg.com, 21 май 2015

Athletics career

During

balneotherapy Balneotherapy ( la, balneum "bath") is a method of treating diseases by bathing, a traditional medicine technique usually practiced at spas. Since ancient times, humans have used hot springs, public baths and thermal medicine for therapeutic eff ...

rehabilitation in Pavel Banya, he met Daniela Todorova and her brother and trainer Radoslav Todorov, who recognised his sports talent. Ruzhdi first represented Bulgaria on the world stage in London during the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

. He entered the shot put, javelin and discus throw, but did not medal in any of his events. The following year he travelled to Lyon to compete at the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

. He entered the same three throwing events as in Beijing and again failed to reach the podium. Ruzhdi first major international success came at the

2014 IPC Athletics European Championships The 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe, plus Azerbaijan and Israel. It was held in Swanse ...

where he won the

in the F53/54/55 category with a throw of 11.48 metres. In October 2015, Ruzhdi won the golden medal in shot put, category F55, at the

. His result was , which was a new championship record.Ружди Ружди донесе трето злато за България
sportal.bg, 31 октомври 2015
/ref> In June 2016, at the

IPC Athletics European Championships The World Para Athletics European Championships (''European Para Athletics Championships''), known prior to 2018 as the IPC Athletics European Championships is an event organized by World Para Athletics, the international athletics federation estab ...

in Grosseto, Italy, Ruzhdi won golden medal in the discus throwing discipline, category F56, with the result of , which was short of the world record that belonged to another Bulgarian Paralympic athlete

Mustafa Yuseinov Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Mou ...

, who won the bronze in the same event with result of .Ружди Ружди стана европейски шампион на диск за хора с увреждания
bgathletic.com, 12 юни 2016 At the same championship, Ruzhdi won his third European golden medal with his result in shot put, , which improved the previous world record held by Martin Němec ().Титла и световен рекорд за Ружди Ружди
bgathletic.com, 17 юни 2016 At the Paralympic games in Rio in 2016, Ruzhdi won the golden medal in shot put, category F55, improving his world record from Grossetto to . Ruzhdi achieved this result with his first throw, and in three other attempts his results were better than the previous world record, namely: , , and . In the discus throwing event, Ruzhdi ranked sixth with best result of .Ружди Ружди със световен рекорд и титла на Параолимпиадата в Рио
sportal.bg, 16.09.2016

References

{{authority control 1991 births Paralympic athletes of Bulgaria Bulgarian male discus throwers Bulgarian male javelin throwers Bulgarian male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Paralympic silver medalists for Bulgaria Living people Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Bulgarian people of Turkish descent Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Rousse Province Wheelchair discus throwers Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters