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A
Profile of Inspiration, Motivation and Courage
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Name:
Rudy Garcia-Tolson
American Record Holder in the 200 Meter Breaststroke. |
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Triathlete Magazine - September 1999 issue has an article on Rudy Garcia-Tolson written by Matt Fitzgerald. Here are excerpts from that article. |
 Rudy's
first pool was a tiny, 100-degree therapeutic pool at the local Easter
Seals chapter. Within a month of beginning lessons he was churning
up such a froth that he was moved over to the YMCA, where he joined
a youth swim team. For the next year he competed exclusively against
able-bodied kids, and he beat the trunks off of them. "It came
to the point where he was getting bored," says his mother, Sandy.
"It wasn't challenging for him."On a fateful Sunday in June of '96, Rudy and his parents set out for a local road race, where Rudy was to attempt his first kids' run. However, their truck broke down and Rudy missed the start. While milling around the expo area following the action, Rudy was approached by a fit-looking middle-aged man who asked, "Say, what's with all the PowerBar stickers on your legs?" Rudy explained proudly to the man that he was sponsored by PowerBar. In answer to intrigued follow-up questions, Rudy told the man that he was a swimmer who trained 10 hours a week and was going to compete in the 2004 Paralympics.  The
intrigued man was none other than Terry Martin, age-group triathlete
extraordinare and director of special promotions for PowerBar. Enamored
by Rudy, and recalling that the San Bernardino Tinman Sprint Triathlon
would take place two weeks hence, Martin asked the youngster whether
he might like to team up for a relay. Rudy was only too eager, and
his parents were fully behind it. It was a run/bike/swim -- 5k/9 miles/100
yards in the pool," says Martin. "We wound up beating all
the open relay teams: an 8-year-old double amputee and a 50-year-old
triathlete I held Rudy up at the awards ceremony and people would
not stop cheering. There were even people crying. They were amazed.
That was the beginning of it."Rudy's next challenge following that first relay triumph involved a triathlon with a 250-yard lake swim, which Rudy completed on behalf of a relay team featuring Olympic bronze medalist decathlete Dave Johnson. Then Rudy moved up to 500 yards, then did a full kilometer, and so forth, competing with a series of celebrities who were by now clamoring to team up with him, each of them staggered by Rudy's talent and inspired by his fearlessness. Naming his rotating-lineup relay squad Team Braveheart, Rudy has cooperated with the disparate likes of actor and elite challenged cyclist Don Swayze, brother of film star Patrick, and Olympic swimmer John Naber. Braveheart usually wins or places in the open relay division at triathlons and has become such a draw that race directors are now requesting its appearance at their events. Among the more memorable relay pairings Rudy has participated in was one with Sean Astin, star of the motion picture Rudy, which depicted the true story of an undersized Notre Dame student who by dint of sheer determination made his university's hallowed football team as a walk-on. Rudy Garcia-Tolson has watched this film at least 30 times. Aware of this infatuation, Martin called up Astin and informed him that he would like Astin to participate on a triathlon relay team with a young challenged athlete bearing a coincidental first name. Astin fell in love with Rudy when he first met him, as most everyone does, and not only participated in the event, which involved Rudy's first ocean swim, but afterward became a full-fledged triathlete himself.  Although
he relishes the Hollywood hobnobbing, Rudy's focus remains squarely
on addressing his progressive challenges, wherein his advancement
had been nothing short of mind-blowing.In 1998, for example, just one summer after first learning to survive ocean surf, Rudy teamed with the aforementioned Robin Williams for the Challenged Athletes Foundation's annual Half Ironman in La Jolla, Calif., completing the 1.2 mile rough water swim in a remarkable 37 minutes. Rudy recently completed his first solo triathlon, using kneeless legs for the run and jointed legs -- on an upright bike, not a recumbent -- for the bike leg. "Rudy is [the first of] a new generation of challenged athletes," says his father, Ricardo. "He's showing that just because you have a disability doesn't mean you have to be kept in a closet. He's proving that challenged kids can do anything other kids can do." Or as Martin puts it, "People are always good to disabled people, but they tend to treat them like disabled people. But here we have this kid -- he's coming after you! He's not just doing the same events as able-bodied athletes, he's doing them just as fast. He's saying, "We're not just normal people, we're good."  The
Challenged Athletes Foundation has adopted Rudy as its poster boy
on account of his unparalleled power as a living symbol of this message.
"Everything that the Foundation stands for, Rudy stands for,"
says CAF co-founder Bob Babbitt. "What the Foundation has done
for Rudy is so minimal compared to what he's done for us."Rudy's next challenge following that first relay triumph involved a triathlon with a 250-yard lake swim, which Rudy completed on behalf of a relay team featuring Olympic bronze medalist decathlete Dave Johnson. Then Rudy moved up to 500 yards, then did a full kilometer, and so forth, competing with a series of celebrities who were by now clamoring to team up with him, each of them staggered by Rudy's talent and inspired by his fearlessness. Rudy's mother says "He's going to open the door for other challenged athletes. Sometimes we go to events and he's the only challenged athlete there. And just by his being there the news is going to spread. Our mission is to get him in the media as much as we can. We don't do it looking for money. It's just about getting the word out, because I know that when Rudy grows up, there's going to be another 8- or 9-year old-boy who's challenged and he's going to say, 'Rudy's my hero.'" |
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From Challenge Magazine -- Fall '98 Issue, Story by Tabi King. Photo by Jay Farbman  On
a beautiful, late October day in La Jolla, Calif., the 5th Annual
San Diego Triathlon Challenge attracted more than 38 of the world's
top disabled athletes along with the legendary, triathletes, celebrities,
and 200 other participants from around the country. The popular half-Ironman
event raised a record $270,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.A highlight of the event was famed actor/ comedian Robin Williams competing on TEAM BRAVEHEART with bilateral leg amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson and triathlon veteran Scott Tinley. Swimming a distance of 1.2 miles in open water for the first time, Garcia-Tolson did the grueling distance in a respectable time of 36.40. After finishing his chilly swim, Garcia-Tolson was congratulated by Robin Williams, who then left the cove for the 56-mile bike ride along the San Diego coastline. "The athletes in attendance today are truly amazing and I am honored to be in their presence," said Williams. |