Jody was born with a deformed right foot which was amputated at the age of 3. He was then fitted with an artificial leg, and hasn’t looked back since. At the age of 5 he had his first swimming lesson with his school and ended up being rescued from the bottom of the pool by a fully clothed parent!

​

After that his parents enrolled him into the local swimming club where he learnt to swim. At the age of 10 he raced for the first time for Kings Lynn swimming club, and his international debut came in 1994, representing Great Britain at the world swimming champs. He took 4 seconds off his best time to surprise everyone and take the gold medal in the 100m Butterfly, this would be the first of 23 international medals he would win, including 4 Paralympic Gold and 3 World Championship Golds in a swimming career spanning 10 years.

​

In 2005 Jody’s career path would change after a ride on the boards of the Newport Velodrome. His potential was spotted by one of the coaches there on that open day. After another ride on the track in Manchester he entered the 2005 national championships and in his first ride broke the British record for the flying 200m sprint. Still swimming on the GB team Jody got in contact with the Newport Velo squad who trained at the velodrome. His times caught the attention of the GB coaches, and he was invited to a time trial for a place on the 2006 Paralympic World Cup team. This was a success and he was offered a place to ride in the team sprint alongside Darren Kenny and Mark Bristow, and they went on to set a new WR. After that race he hung up his trunks and goggles for the last time and made the transition to the British Cycling team.

​

In the summer of 2006 he won his first individual gold medal at the World Track Championships in Aigle Switzerland, breaking the WR in the process. From that victory he has gone onto become the fastest solo Paralympian on a bike and won multiple medals on the world stage and became one of only a handful of athletes that have become Paralympic and World champion in two different sports. In 2009 he was made an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list and in 2017 an OBE for his services to disability sport.

​

Jody’s speciality event has always been the 1km or Kilo Time Trial. It was this event at the London 2012 Paralympic Games where Jody became a household name having been cruelly disqualified from the event following a fault with the starting gate. Jody’s reaction to his disqualification was broadcast around the World and whilst he’d be the first to say his language wasn’t the best on that day, it showed to the World that Para-athletes care and are as professional as their able bodied counterparts.

​

Following the disappointment of London Jody was determined to ‘right that wrong’ at Rio 2016. He duly did so winning Gold in the 1km Time Trial and the Team Sprint making him a 7 x Paralympic Champion as well as being a 16 x World Champion.

​

www.jodycundy.com