The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A Long Sutton couple will be burning the midnight oil as their decorated son attempts to make yet more Paralympic history this week.
Watching Jody Cundy in his seventh Paralympics will be a strange one for his parents Alan and Ann as they won’t be able to attend for the first time.
But the pair will still be cheering from their home as the 42-year-old looks to add to the seven Olympic golds he’s already pocketed.
The cyclist will be looking to defend the C4-5 Kilo titles and Men’s Team Sprint he won at Rio 2016 for Great Britain and Nothern Ireland, 25 years after debuting as a Paralympian, initially as a swimmer.
“We won’t be going to bed on Wednesday as his solo event is due to start at 2am Thursday morning,” said Alan.
“Normally we’d go away with him and this will be the first time we haven’t been able to do that.
“Watching Jody does worry us and it seems to get worse the longer he goes on.
“The tension we feel is unbelievable.”
Jody now lives in Manchester but was born in Wisbech with a deformed foot, and his leg was amputated when he was three-years-old.
He initially excelled in swimming, winning gold in the S10 100m butterfly at Atlanta in 1996 retaining his title four years later in Sydney and adding to his tally with gold alongside the 4x100m freestyle team and bronze in the individual backstroke event.
After winning a bronze in Athens 2004 he made the transition to the cycle track.
Jody was a hit in the velodrome, almost immediately winning the first of his 17 Track World Championship titles just two years later.
He claimed gold in the Kilo at Beijing in 2008 alongside the Team Sprint title but suffered a rare setback at London 2012 after being disqualified.
He hit back with the double gold in Rio and remains the world record holder for Kilo going into Tokyo.
His parents recently moved to Long Sutton,and his Dad said: “I don’t think people realise how much work they put in.
“They take on hours and hours of riding and putting themselves through it to ensure they’re in top form.
“He’s been training really hard and it’s been going really well.
“He’s expecting his events to be really fast races with a lot of talented younger riders coming through.
“But he’s in top condition and hasn’t been beaten in a C4 category race since 2006 while still being the world record holder and having won the 12 consecutive World Championship titles.
“How proud are we of Jody? How proud can you be?
“He’s been awarded an MBE, OBE, numerous honours.
“He’s been invited to Downing Street and met The Queen on a number of occasions. What he’s achieved has been quite fantastic and I think even he’s amazed at the times he’s doing for his age.
“As he says, he’s happy doing something he loves, riding his bike.”
