30 September 2023 , 16:20
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Stepping out onto the dazzling Strictly Come Dancing floor last Saturday, Jody Cundy is no stranger to a vast amount of gold and silver - but he's usually used to it being in the form of Paralympic medals.
And Jody's sporting achievements are very impressive with his remarkable journey to becoming a World and Paralympic Champion. The 44-year-old cyclist and former swimmer has proudly represented Great Britain at seven summer Paralympics and won over eight gold medals, as well as one silver and three bronze medals across the two sports. He also boasts 23 World Championships titles under his belt, including a win at the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow recently.
Jody Cundy won gold at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games (PA)
Jody attending the Paralympics GB Homecoming in 2021 (Getty Images for The National Lottery)His journey hasn’t been without challenge however, with Jody born with a deformed foot, which he had amputated at the age of three. Subsequently given a prosthetic limb, he hasn’t looked back since and soon joined his local swimming club. At ten, he raced for the first time - with his international debut coming just six years later, representing GB at the 1st IPC World Swimming Championships. He knocked four seconds off his personal best to take the gold medal home for his brilliant 100m Butterfly.
In 2005, Jody was spotted by a coach taking part in a disability open day cycling around the velodrome and ended up entering the national championships where he broke the British record for the flying 200m. Just one year later, he secured a place on the 2006 Paralympic World Cup team.
Thriving in cycling, Jody waved goodbye to swimming to become a part of the GB Cycling Team and won his first individual gold medal at the 1km time trial at the World Track Championships in Aigle, Switzerland - breaking a world record which remains unbeaten to this day. In 2009 Jody was awarded an MBE for his services to disability sport and given an OBE for his services to swimming and cycling in 2017 - before this was upped to a CBE for his services in cycling in 2022.
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In the same month that Jody won gold in the C4 1km Time Trial at the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow in August, the sportsman also confirmed he would be taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing series. Last week, Jody took to the dancefloor with professional Jowita Przystal with his quickstep dancing to I’m Sitting on Top of the World by Bobby Darin with sparks flying for their big finish.
Jody Cundy and Jowita Pryzstal during the show last Saturday (September 23) (PA)Cheering on from the crowd will be Jody’s fiance Lucy Bowles, who he proposed to last year. While he keeps their relationship private, he occasionally shares cute snaps on Instagram, posting last year: ''What a lovely day celebrating @lulubo1982 ‘s 40th Birthday with her family. 'Here’s to the next 40, so many memories to make and things to experience with you. Glad to have you by my side, hope you’ve had an awesome day!''