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OTTOBOCK AMBASSADOR

Vinicius Rodrigues

Vinicius had a motorcycle accident when he was 19 years old. He knew right away that he wanted to get back to sports.

Vinicius had a motorcycle accident when he was 19 years old. He knew right away that he wanted to get back to sports.

Obsessed with athletics

After his accident and the amputation of his left leg, he heard about Heinrich Popow. His positive attitude concerning sports with a leg amputation, his success at the Paralympic Games in London 2012 and his passion to inspire people brought Vinicius to the decision: "I want to be like him!"

At the Running Clinic in Brazil 2013, he met Heinrich and ran on a sports prosthesis for the first time. Since then he has been obsessed with para athletics and sprinting, and trains hard to improve as an athlete.

”As an Ottobock Ambassador, it's very important to me to motivate and inspire people with a disability to do sports.”

Vinicius Rodrigues, Para-Leichtathlet und Ottobock Botschafter

Training for a new personal best time

In April 2019 during the Sao Paulo World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Brazil, Vinicius impressed everybody in the men’s T63 class 100 metre race. The clock stopped at 11.95 seconds – the first and until now only person in his classification breaking the 12-second mark.

In November of the same year, at the World Para Championship in Dubai, he won the bronze medal in the 100 metres with a time of 12.38 seconds.

He qualified for his first Paralympic Games in Tokyo and won silver in the 100 metre sprint.

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Key facts

  • Nation: Brazil

  • Year of birth: 1994

  • Sport: Para athletics – 100 m

  • Classification: T63

  • Coaches: Amaury Vagner Veríssimo, Fabio Dias

  • Club: CPB – Brazilian Paralympic Center

Victories and achievements

  • Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games:

    • Silver medal in the 100 metres

  • World Para Athletics Championships Dubai 2019:

    • Bronze medal in the 100 metres

  • Para Athletics Grand Prix Sao Paulo 2019:

    • Gold medal in the 100 metres (11.95 sec – world record)

Stay up to date

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