Nationality British Role Athlete Country Great Britain Height 1.88 m | Sport Running Weight 80 kg Name Richard Whitehead | |
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Born 19 July 1976 (age 48) ( 1976-07-19 ) Nottingham World finals 2012 London 200m - 24.38s (WR) Profiles |
Richard whitehead wins the t42 200 metres world para athletics championship 2017
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.
Contents
- Richard whitehead wins the t42 200 metres world para athletics championship 2017
- Richard whitehead london 2012 paralympic 200m gold
- References
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) Richard Whitehead Photos 2012 London Paralympics Day 3](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-58aa4687-f538-43db-9755-8891e55e605-resize-750.jpeg)
He holds the world record for athletes with a double amputation, in both the full and half marathon. At the 2010 Chicago Marathon, he broke his previous world record for athletes with lower-limb amputations, with a time of 2:42:52.
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) Paralympic gold medallist Richard Whitehead wows Splash](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-aa006ad0-f57c-4a17-9ad8-e572edcf4bb-resize-750.jpeg)
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.
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) British Paralympic Association](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-913b4cf1-2f99-4b96-b1f5-224e0ba365b-resize-750.jpeg)
His earlier career was a swimming 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.
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) Paralympic athlete achieves top score on Splash series](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-3d3d07f9-f4a4-4730-8830-26727914899-resize-750.jpeg)
Whitehead was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to athletics.
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) Richard Whitehead thrills crowd with astonishing 200m](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-f1fb1a25-dd8a-4ded-ba41-d276ee0ef6f.webp)
Whitehead was appointed the first-ever patron of Sarcoma UK, the bone- and soft-tissue cancer charity, on 28 January 2013 [1]
![Richard Whitehead (athlete) Richard Whitehead athlete Wikipedia the free encyclopedia](https://alchetron.com/cdn/richard-whitehead-athlete-20aa7f35-7c7b-465c-a385-263c3c498ff-resize-750.jpg)
Richard 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 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.
In 2013, he launched his fundraising campaign, "Richard Whitehead Runs Britain", to run from John O'Groats to Land's End.