Samuel Ruddock (born 19 February 1990) is a

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

athlete who represented Great Britain in the F35 classification in the 100 metres and shot put events, for athletes with cerebral palsy. He is the British Record holder for the F35 Shot Put and the C1 Kilometere Time Trial, specialising in the track sprint events, preparing for his third Paralympic Games at

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Early years

Ruddock was born in

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

, diagnosed with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...

, a neuro-muscular condition caused by his premature birth. He attended Bishop Wulstan School to study at GCSE level, taking a profound interest in languages, history and politics. He found it difficult to play the predominant playground sport of football, due to a severe lack of lower body coordination. He however found great pleasure in basketball and cites films like

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel ...

and

Coach Carter ''Coach Carter'' is a 2005 American biographical teen sports drama film starring Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Thomas Carter (no relation). The film is based on the true story of Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter (played ...

as major influences on his extra-curricular ambitions in physical education. After completing his GCSEs, he took scholarship exams in 2006 and was subsequently offered a full academic scholarship to attend

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

to study English, History and Economics, as a day pupil in Town House.

Loughborough University

After completing his A-Levels, Ruddock chose to study

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

at Loughborough University. He became immersed in the ethos of Loughborough campus life and took up

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

alongside his studies, playing

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the Loughborough Aces, as the only player with a physical disability in the British University League. In late 2011, his final year of study, he was approached by an athletics coach during one of the football team's quarterly combine testing sessions. The coach, Joe McDonnell, spotted Ruddock's impairment and offered to coach him in disability sprinting, singling him out for his speed and power over short distances. DKH Legacy Trust - Sam Ruddock
Ruddock was quickly brought through the talent identification ranks by

British Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

and within months of training was awarded his senior international debut for the Great Britain

Athletics team that would compete in London, having attended his first official competition event in April 2012.Loughborough University News
/ref>

Post-University, Athletics and Cycling

Having graduated with First Class Honours, Ruddock is currently training for the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and is employed as an Athlete Mentor for the

Youth Sport Trust Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

,Sky Sports Athlete Mentor
/ref> working with secondary schools to encourage pupils, to use the values and lessons learnt through sport, to better their academic performance. During the earlier part of the 2013–2014 athletics season, Sam made the transition to the field events to further his medal prospects at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

and was selected to represent Great Britain in the shot put for the 2014

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 Swansea. After producing a new lifetime best at the 2015 World Championships and a silver medal performance at the following 2016 Europeans, Sam was selected to compete at the Rio 2016 Games, finishing 6th in the final. He is currently in training for the

Paralympic Games in track cycling, having joined the

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

Foundation Programme in 2019. He is a big fan of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddock, Sam Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Alumni of Loughborough University Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Rugby, Warwickshire