Richard Whitehead

I've only been running six years – I was inspired by a double leg amputee who set himself the challenge of running across America. I decided to run the New York marathon in 2004 having never previously run a single mile. I swam and played ice hockey at Paralympic level before, but I wanted to try something new. They say it takes eight years to become a Paralympic champion, and 2012 will be my eighth year so I'm hoping my timing's right. Liz Yelling, the Olympic runner, has been my coach for two years and my personal best has gone from 3hr 14min to 2:42. She'd never coached an amputee before, so it's been a learning curve for both of us. There's no other leg amputee doing the times I'm doing, I was the first to break three hours and I'm the world's fastest double or single leg amputee by about 15 minutes. I've also started running the 200m, just for fun. But when I ran the fifth fastest time in the world this year it got me thinking. I'd love to compete in both in 2012. I raced in the 200m Diamond League at Crystal Palace this year and I loved it. Biography Born 19 July 1976, Nottingham Educated Colonel Frank Seely School, Nottingham Coach Liz Yelling (Olympic athlete) Favourite film Bad Boys and Dirty Harry Favourite food I love steak Favourite band I like motivational music, hard hitting. Jay Z, Eminem, Coldplay, Jamiroquai. Jimi Hendrix to Lenny Kravitz Hobbies I like to go and watch Spurs when I've got time. My dad supports Leeds but I ended up supporting Tottenham because I loved watching Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles when I was growing up. I love watching any sport really, even darts and golf Key statistics World records (by Whitehead in leg amputee category) Marathon 2hr 42min 52sec Half marathon 1hr 14min 59sec Main rivals for 2012 The marathon has one category (T46) for all amputees. In 2008 gold to bronze ranged from 2hr 27min to 2hr 33min World T46 rankings (up to Nov 2010) 1 F Van Den Heede 2hr 31min 57sec 2 W Endrizzi 2:38:11 3 O Bonfim 2:39:46 4 C Sommer 2:48:49 Training As an endurance runner training takes a lot of hours to get the mileage in and I was only able to do 10-15 hours a week working as a sports officer for Nottingham council last year. Now I'm doing over 20 hours and working part-time, but to get ready for 2012 I need to train full-time from next year. The next target is to shave two minutes off my best and reach 2:40, then 2:35 which would put me on the podium for London. Olympic countdown November 2010 New York marathon January 2011 International Paralympic Committee world championships, Christchurch, New Zealand April 2011 London marathon October 2011 Chicago marathon November 2011 New York marathon Spring 2012 Rotterdam marathon Venue The Paralympic marathon starts and finishes in the Mall, taking in some of London's main sights