Rudy Garcia-Tolson

Background

He was born with popliteal pterygium syndrome, resulting in a club foot, webbed fingers on both hands, a cleft lip and palate and the inability to straighten his legs.

Career

As a 5 year old wheelchair user, after 15 operations, he decided he would rather be a double amputee and walk with prosthetics. He had both legs removed above the knee. Garcia-Tolson started swimming at age 6.

When he was eight years old, he stated that he would swim in the 2004 Paralympic Games.

At the 2012 Paralympics in London, he broke the SM7 world record in 200 meter Individual Medley heat. In the final, both he and Yevheniy Bohodayko swam faster still.

Athletics Garcia-Tolson started running at age 7. By the age of 13, he held T42 American Records in all distances from 400 metres to the half marathon.

At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, he competed on the track as well as in the pool.

He ran personal best times in his T42 100 metre and 200 metre events, but did not qualify for finals. Triathlon Garcia-Tolson competed in first his triathlon at age 8, as the swimmer in a winning relay team He raced with celebrities including Robin Williams as part of Team Braveheart.

At age 10, he completed the first of many individual triathlons.

In 2006, he completed the Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida. He attempted the 2009 Ironman World Championship in Kona but missed the bike cut by 8 minutes.

Six weeks later, at Ironman Arizona, he became the first double above-knee amputee to complete a full Ironman Triathlon. Paratriathlon has been included in the program for the 2016 Paralympics.

Although he has previously described triathlon as "cross training for swimming", Garcia-Tolson has indicated some interest in competing.

Achievements

• In 2003, Garcia-Tolson was named one of Teen People Magazine"s "20 Teens Who Will Change the World". He was the subject of The Final Sprint"s December 2006 "Success Story". A monthly column that aims to highlight remarkable and factual accounts of runners who have overcome major obstacles and/or changed their lives via running. He has won several awards, including the Arete Courage in Sports Award and the Casey Martin Award from Nike. Following his success at Ironman Arizona, he was nominated for an Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award in 2010.