WCC Presents

A LEG UP ON THE

COMPETITIONRUDY GARCIA TOLSON

Rudy Garcia Tolson is fast. At 12

years old, Rudy ran a 5-kilometer

race in 20 minutes and 8 seconds

which breaks down into a blazing

6:30 minutes per mile pace. In

2006, Rudy held U.S. national

records in the 400, 800, 1500, and

5,000 meter runs. But Rudy was not

only fast on the track.

He is a triathlete, a three sport athlete

who also does biking and swimming.

As a swimmer, Rudy holds a national

breaststroke record. He has competed

in six triathlons and looks forward to

entering an ironman competition

someday, which includes a 2.4 mile

swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2

mile run.

There’s one other prettey

amazing thing about Rudy: He

doesn’t have legs.

Rudy was born with pterygium

syndrome. Webs of skin behind his

knees connected his upper and

lower leg, kind of like a tight

version of the skin between your

thumb and first finger.

This skin kept his legs bent and made it

impossible for him to walk. By the time

Rudy was five, he had under gone 15

surgeries but still couldn’t stand out of

a wheelchair. “I was born with a birth

defect,” Rudy said. “The doctors gave

me and my family a choice: Cut off

my legs or stay in a wheelchair. I told

the doctors to cut my legs off.”

As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy

losing both legs from the knee down.

“When he went back to kindergarten,

he was a little bit down,” Rudy’s mom

recalled.

“The school counselor

recommended putting him in a sport

and his dad suggested swimming.” It

wasn’t long after that Rudy set the goal

of competing in the Paralympic

Summer Games.

This competition is held every four

years and features athletes with

disabilities competing in many sports.

But he knew it would take years of

hard work. In elementary school, Rudy

started training in the pool 5 days a

week in two hour sessions. He learned

to run and bike as well. Don’t let his

easy smile and casual charm fool you,

Rudy is a serious athlete!

But Rudy’s life wasn’t all about

training. His mom made sure that

he found time to be a good

student. “He knows he can’t go to

swim practice or any of the

speaking engagements he loves

so much if his grades aren’t good,”

his mom said.

His family also made sure Rudy

had at least one weekend a

month free just to be a kid. After

all, while Rudy may have been

one of the best para athletes in the

world by the time he was a middle

schooler, he was still just a regular

kid.

Rudy hung out with friends, listened

to music, played paintball, and

dyed his hair platinum blond.

But unlike most kids, one corner

of Rudy’s living room in

Bloomington, California, was

completely full of prosthetic legs.

There were light springy pairs for

running; pairs with hinged knees

and clips for bike pedals; and

durable, stable pairs, called

stubbies, for walking, playing

paintball, and skateboarding.

But despite his legs that ended at

the knee, Rudy hated the term

disabled and rejects

handicapped. How could you call

him handicapped if he was the

one winning paintball every

weekend?

It was 5 days after his 15th birthday

when Rudy walked into the

Aquatic Center in Athens, Greece,

for the finals of the 200 meter

individual medley swimming race

at the 2004 Paralympics. More

than 1 million people watched the

games.

Rudy Garcia Tolson was the

youngest member of the U.S.

Paralympics team in Athens. To

win the 200 meter individual

medley, swimmers have to be

experts in backstroke,

breaststroke, butterfly, and

freestyle.

It was especially difficult for Rudy

because the breaststroke is almost

completely leg powered. But that

didn’t stop him from shattering the

world record by 3.42 seconds in a

qualifying round.

When the bell for the 200 meter

individual medley final sounded,

Rudy launched into the pool and

carved through the water with his

powerful arms. He tried to swim his

own race without worrying about

the competition.

He knew he was fast, but just how fast he didn’t know. Rudy reached out his fingers, touched the wall, and looked up.

He had won the gold metal! In his first Paralympics, Rudy had beaten the best swimmers in the world!

For his performance, ESPN

nominated Rudy as one of the

three most outstanding para

athletes of 2004. In 2008, he

proved it was no fluke and took

home the gold metal at the Beijing

Games.

Paul Martin, one of the world’s top

disabled athletes, said “He has

already done wonders for

challenged athletes and he’s just a

kid. I look forward to the day he

kicks my butt in a triathlon. He

already kicks it in the water.”

While Rudy has trained his arms

and lungs to be amazingly strong,

he doesn’t credit his success to

that. Instead, Rudy Garcia Tolson

says he has a different secret

weapon: “A brave Heart is a

powerful weapon.”

Adapted from “Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change,” written by Garth

Sundem