Richard Whitehead MBE (born 19 July 1976) is a British

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-de ...

. He runs with

prosthetic leg In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

s, as he has a double through-knee

congenital amputation Congenital amputation is birth without a limb or limbs, or without a part of a limb or limbs. It is known to be caused by blood clots forming in the fetus while ''in utero'' (vascular insult) and from amniotic band syndrome: fibrous bands of the ...

. He set world records for athletes with a double amputation, in both the full and

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

. At the

2010 Chicago Marathon The 2010 Chicago Marathon was the 33rd running of the annual marathon race in Chicago, United States, held on Sunday, October 10. Over 38,000 runners took part, the most in the race's history. Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru won the men's event with a time ...

, he broke his previous world record for athletes with lower-limb amputations, with a time of 2:42:52. Whitehead's marathon record was beaten by 28 seconds by Marko Cheseto at the

2019 Boston Marathon The 2019 Boston Marathon was the 123rd running of the annual marathon race held in Boston, Massachusetts. It took place on April 15, 2019. The elite men's race came down to a sprint finish, which Lawrence Cherono won in 2:07:57. The elite women ...

. Whitehead was unable to compete in the marathon at

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

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 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 impaired ...

, where he won the gold medal in the 200m T42 Athletics event with a world record time of 24.38 seconds. His earlier career was a swimming and dance teacher at Clifton Leisure Centre in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. He is a former ice

sledge hockey Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilitat ...

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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebra ...

for services to athletics. Whitehead was appointed the first-ever patron of Sarcoma UK, the bone- and soft-tissue cancer charity, on 28 January 2013. Whitehead is a patron of Footprints Conductive Education Centre, a charity in his home town of Nottingham, who help children with mobility and communication problems develop the skills they need to thrive and achieve their potential. Whitehead is also a patron of Gedling Sports Partnership, a charity that promotes sport and physical education in the borough of Gedling. 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 Lowdham is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire between Nottingham and Southwell. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,832, increasing to 3,334 at the 2011 Census. Two main roads slicing thro ...

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 ) , 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 ...

, Whitehead won gold in the T42 200 metres and silver in the T42 100 metres, which he shared with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

's Daniel Wagner after the pair finished in a dead heat for second. In 2013, he launched his fundraising campaign, "Richard Whitehead Runs Britain", to run from John O'Groats to

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Whitehead won silver in the T61 200 metres. 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 Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and W ...

successfully made it to the extraction point to win.

References

Athlete Search Results – Whitehead, Richard

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

(IPC)
Richard Whitehead: Forget Oscar Pistorius – I'm the fastest man on no legs
insideworldparasport.biz, 18 March 2010

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Richard 1976 births Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Ice sledge hockey players at the 2006 Winter Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain World record holders in Paralympic athletics British male sprinters English amputees Sportspeople from Nottingham Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics English male sprinters English male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Sprinters with limb difference Paralympic sprinters

See also

References

External links