This may just be the coolest leg ever made.
Five times Paralympic champion Jody Cundy – sponsored by Adrian Flux’s Chartwell Insurance brand – which offers bespoke cover for people with disabilities – showed off his ‘new leg for London’ on Wednesday with a special patriotic design and the names of all the people who have helped him win 10 gold medals at Paralympics and World Championships.
As Jody, 33, unveiled his new prosthetic leg at Manchester Velodrome, he said: “I am really happy the way it has turned out, I think it looks pretty cool.”
Jody, who was born with a deformed foot, which was amputated when he was just three years old, has been working on the design with top designer Gary Forshaw, who works with Össur, the Icelandic company, which produced his new prosthetic leg as well as those for ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius, who is also competing in the Paralympics.
Delighted Jody said: “It’s a whole new leg for London. It’s a refinement of the leg I had in Beijing with new positioning and alignment and refined aerodynamics. I think the leg looks stunning and it is a thank you to everyone who has helped me on my journey to the Games, right from when I started competing up until now.”
The names of all those who have supported the five-times Paralympics gold medallist are ‘ghosted’ into the design and on the back of the leg is a ‘medal board’ with 10 medal images representing his gold medals in previous World Championships and Paralympics.
He added: “I love customising my leg. With so many restrictions on kit and other pieces of equipment it’s nice to have a bit of creative freedom and stand out from the crowd.”
Designer Gary said: “In the initial meetings we had to discuss the design Jody already had a fairly good idea of what he wanted, so from there it was just a case of getting those ideas on paper and then eventually on to the prosthesis. The aim was to create an eye-catching, iconic design, and to find a way to include all the names without distracting too much from the overall look – and hopefully we’ve managed to achieve that in the end. I think it looks great! “
Richard Hirons, lead prosthetist of Össur, said: “It happens to be a thing of beauty and I’m very satisfied with the result. “We’ve been very pleased at Össur to work with Jody and his coaching and support team on this collaborative project. We know that Jody will do his best when he’s called to the line, as he always does. In prosthetic terms we’ve been granted the opportunity to pay attention to details that often we’re not able to do. But whatever our contribution, it is Jody who has put in the hours and the effort that is the real headline. And for that, he has our support, admiration and best wishes.”