Bruce Wallrodt

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Bruce Wallrodt

| image = 221000 - Athletics field javelin Bruce Wallrodt waves - 3b - 2000 Sydney event photo.jpg

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| caption = Wallrodt seen waving to the crowds during javelin competition at the 2000 Summer Paralympics

| fullname = Bruce Wallrodt

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| nationality = {{AUS}}

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|9|26|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Bunbury, Western Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|07|02|1951|9|26|df=yes}}

| death_place = Perth, Western Australia

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{{MedalCompetition|World Championships and Games for the Disabled}}

}}

Bruce Wallrodt, {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|OAM}}{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/886293|title=Wallrodt, Bruce, OAM|work=Australian Honours Search Facility|access-date=9 July 2020}} (26 September 1951 – 2 July 2019) was an Australian Paralympic athlete. He competed at five Paralympic Games and won nine medals, four of them gold.

Personal

Wallrodt was born on 26 September 1951 in the Western Australian city of Bunbury.{{cite web |url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/paraathl.html |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20000120000000/http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/paraathl.html |archive-date=20 January 2000 |title=Australians at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics: Athletes|publisher=Australian Sports Commission |access-date=2 January 2012}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He attended South Bunbury Primary School and Newton Moore Senior High School. After leaving school, he worked as a fitter and turner until the age of 29, when he had a spinal haemorrhage that left him paraplegic.{{cite web|url=http://www.bunbury.wa.gov.au/pdf/Residents/Media_Releases/2010/101014_Former_paralympion_gold_medalist_to_give_on_track_keynote_address.pdf|title=Former Paralympian gold medalist to give on track keynote address|publisher=City of Bunbury|date=14 October 2010|access-date=2 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326021827/http://www.bunbury.wa.gov.au/pdf/Residents/Media_Releases/2010/101014_Former_paralympion_gold_medalist_to_give_on_track_keynote_address.pdf|archive-date=26 March 2012}}

Wallrodt died on 2 July 2019 at the age of 67.{{cite news|last=Robertson|first=Lauren|title=Vale Bruce Wallrodt OAM|url=https://www.paralympic.org.au/2019/07/vale-bruce-wallrodt-oam/|work=News|publisher=Paralympics Australia|date=4 July 2019|access-date=9 July 2020}}

Career

File:52 ACPS Atlanta 1996 Field Bruce Wallrodt.jpg

File:Bruce Wallrodt throwing discus at 1992 Paralympics.jpg

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|quote= Sport to me was an extended arm of the rehabilitation process and made me realise that there was little that I could not do even if I had to do it from a wheelchair. Competing and mixing with my peers showed me that the upper limits of my capabilities were far greater than I had thought possible. Sport opened up many doors that seemingly would have remained closed had I not been involved with it. There is mot a lot a person in a chair cannot do if they put their minds to it.

|source=Bruce Wallrodt{{cite book|last=Mather-Brown|first=Bill|authorlink=Bill Mather-Brown|title=The fight in the dog|year=2002|publisher=T. Beck|location=Perth|isbn=0958000107|pages=274}}

}}

In the 1988 Seoul Games, Wallrodt won two gold medals in the Men's Shot Put 2 and the Men's Javelin 2 events, and a bronze medal in the Men's Discus 2 event.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=all&name=Wallrodt&fname=Bruce&gender=all|title=Athlete Search Results|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000936/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=all&name=Wallrodt&fname=Bruce&gender=all|url-status=dead}} At the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, Netherlands he won gold medals in the Men's Shot Put and Discus F4 events.{{cite book|title=World Championships and Games for the Disabled – Athletics Results|year=1990|publisher=Organising Committee|location=Netherlands}} At the 1992 Barcelona Games, he won a gold medal in the Men's Javelin THW4 event (for which he received a Medal of The Order of Australia), and two silver medals in the Men's Discus THW4 and the Men's Shot Put THW4 events. Going into the 1992 Games, he was a world record holder in discus, javelin and shot put.{{cite book|title= Barcelona Paralympics 1992 : Australian team members profile handbook|publisher=Australian Paralympic Federation|location=Glebe, New South Wales|year=1992|id=20779}} In the 1996 Atlanta Games, he won a gold medal in the Men's Shot Put F53 event, in which he broke a world record, and a bronze medal in the Men's Javelin F53 event.{{cite news|title=Insatiable appetite|work=The Newcastle Herald|first=Kylie|last=walker|date=28 October 2000|page=50}} In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal.{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/980538|title=Wallrodt, Bruce: Australian Sports Medal|work=Australian Honours Search Facility|access-date=9 July 2020}} He won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games in the men's shot put T54 event{{cite journal|title=Australian Honour Roll|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|journal=Australian Paralympic Committee Annual Report 2010|year=2010|page=10}} and came 4th in the Men's Javelin F54 – event.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=F54&sport=athletics&competition=2000PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Javelin|title=Results for the 2000 Men's Javelin F54 -|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012}} At the 2004 Athens Games, he came fifth in both the Men's Javelin F54{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=F54&sport=athletics&competition=2004PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Javelin|title=Results for the 2004 Men's Javelin F54|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012}} and the Men's Shot Put F54 events.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=F54&sport=athletics&competition=2004PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Shot%20Put|title=Results for the 2004 Men's Shot Put F54|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012}}