Nationality British Country United Kingdom Disability class C2 | Residence Cambridge, England Sport Track cycling | |
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Born 21 July 1997 (age 19) ( 1997-07-21 ) Cambridge, England Profiles | ||
Louis Rolfe MBE (born 21 July 1997) is a British Paralympic track cyclist competing in C2 classification events.Rolfe came to note as a cyclist during the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships where he was part of the gold medal winning British team sprint event along with fellow cyclists Jon-Allan Butterworth and Jody Cundy.
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Personal history
Rolfe was born in 1997 in Cambridge, England. He was born ten weeks premature and has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus.
Cycling career
Rolfe was inspired to take up para-sport after being inspired by the events of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London. In December 2012 he attended a para-festival where he was tested by Great Britain Cycling Team coaches. Rolfe was subsequently accepted onto the British Para-cycling Development Programme. He was classified as a C2 classification cyclist and was part of the Great Britain team at the 2015 Newport Para-cycling International. In Newport he won a silver as part of the men's team sprint and a bronze in the 3km sprint, and was selected to represent his country at the 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. The World Championships provided experience for Rolfe and he finished fifth as apart of the team sprint, seventh in the 1km time trial and 10th in the individual pursuit.
In 2016, in the buildup to the Rio Paralympics, Rolfe represented Britain at his second Track World Championships, this time in Montichiari. Rolfe entered the both the individual pursuit and the time trial, winning a bronze medal in the latter. Originally he was not part of the Team sprint as the line-up was intended to be Jon-Allan Butterworth, Kadeena Cox and Jody Cundy, but prior to the Championship Cox was reclassified and Rolfe was brought in as a late replacement. Despite never having raced together, the three posted a final time of 49.268 to win the gold and set a new world record time.
In August 2016 Rolfe was named as part of the Great Britain team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics. In September 2016 at the Rio Paralympics Louis won bronze in the individual pursuit 3000m in the C2 class and gold in the 750m team sprint C1-C5 with Jon-Allan Butterworth and Jody Cundy in a world record time of 48.635 Seconds having already posted the previous record in qualifying.
On 31st December 2016 Rolfe was awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list.
