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Arnold Boldt

Age: 52

Years Cycling: Locally in SK, 6; nationally & internationally, 1

Home Town: Saskatoon

Team/ Club: Moose Jaw Pavers; Canadian National Team

Coach: Eric van den Eynde

Discipline: Road Race, TT

Other Interests: Mountain Biking, skiing, canoeing,
Results and Achievements

2011:

  • 2011 - 1st Challenge Longhi UCI P1 Para-cycling road race. Montreal, Quebec
  • 2011 - 1st Defi Sportif UCI P1 Para-cycling time trial and 1st in the road race. Montreal, Quebec.
  • 2011 - UCI Para-cycling World Cup, Sydney, Australia. Crashed. Not able to race.
  • 2011 - 1st Canadian National Para-cycling Track Championships 3km pursuit; 2nd in the 1000m sprint. Bromont, Quebec.
  • 2011 - 2nd overall in Saskatchewan, Master D men (able-bodied) in both the road race and time trial.
  • 2011 - 11th UCI Para-cycling World Championships time trial event. Crashed in the road race: DNF. Copenhagen, Denmark.

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  • Career Highlights

  • 1976 - Olympiad gold medal in high jump (Olympiad & world record of 1.86m) and gold medal in the standing long jump (Olympiad & world record of 2.96m). Outstanding athlete of the Olympiad award.
  • 1977 - Inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Toronto, Ontario.
  • 1980 - At Paralympics in Arnheim, Holland, broke high jump record with a gold medal jump of 1.96m and won the gold medal in the standing long jump with a jump of 3.01m.
  • 1980 - Inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (I think this was the year).
  • 1981 - Raised world high jump record to 2.04m (outdoor performance) in at the World Championships in Rome, Italy, and increased the world long jump record to 3.01m.
  • 1981 - Best indoor high jump performance of 2.08m (6'10") at Tribune Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba .
  • 1984 - Paralympics in New York, USA. Gold medal in high jump; silver medal in long jump.
  • 1984 - Silver Medal presented by Pope John Paul II at Vatican City recognizing athletics achievements and work on behalf of disabled people.
  • 1988 - Paralympics in Seoul, Korea. Gold medal in high jump. 1992 - Canadian team flagbearer, Paralympic Opening Ceremonies in Barcelona, Spain. Gold medal in high jump.
  • 1994 - Inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame.
  • 2001 - Inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame.
  • 2009 - Canadian National road para-cycling champion, 1st place; 4th in the time trial; St. Georges de Beauce, PQ.
  • 2009 - 9th UCI World Championship road cycling; 13th in the time trial, Bogogno, Italy.
  • 2010 - Ignited and carried the first torch and flame in Canada for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. Carried the torch and flame into the House of Commons. Ottawa, Canada. 2.
  • 2010 - Canadian National road para-cycling champion, 1st place; Canadian National time trial champion, 1st place, St. Georges de Beauce, July 2010. 3.
  • 2010 - 7th UCI World Para-cycling Championships time trial; 16th in the road race, Baie-Comeau, Quebec.

Biography

Arnie Boldt won numerous medals at local and international track and field championships and continually broke his own records in the high- and long-jump events. While these are impressive results by anyone's standards, Boldt's accomplishments were even more extraordinary because he had only one leg.

Boldt lost his right leg in a grain auger accident at the age of three, but he did not let this injury stop him from competing in a variety of sports including swimming, skiing, volleyball, and, most notably, track and field.

Boldt caught the world's attention at the 1976 Paralympics when he won two gold medals in the high jump and the long jump. He cleared 1.86m in the high jump, a world record for a one-legged jumper. By comparison, Canada's best Olympic female high jumper cleared 1.87m. Boldt's performance of 2.96m in the long jump also established a new disabled world record.

Over the course of his career, Boldt continued to establish new records in the high jump. At the 1980 Paralympics in The Netherlands, he broke his own 1976 record with a new height of 1.96m. The following year, he had his best performance at an outdoor meet in Rome, Italy, clearing 2.04m, and his best performance at an indoor meet, clearing 2.08m at the Tribune Games in Winnipeg. In 1981, he also raised his long jump record to 3.01m.

Boldt reigned supreme at disabled meets from 1976 to 1994. He showed so much talent in his sport that he competed at the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) level with able-bodied opponents while studying at universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

In 2009 Boldt restarted his athletic endeavours by winning the Canadian para-cycling road race event and coming in 4th in the time trial event in St. Georges de Beauce, PQ. He went on to place 9th in the UCI World Championships in Bogogno, Italy, in the road race and 13th in the time trial event. He also competes in able-bodied cycle racing in Saskatchewan during the summer.

In 2010, Boldt became the Canadian C2 para-cycling road race and time trial champion at the National Championships. He went on place 7th in the TT and 16th in the road race at the 2010 UCI Para-cycling World championships.

In 2011 Boldt began the season by winning 3 UCI sanctioned international events at the Challenge Longhi and Defi Sportif. Unfortunately, however, his season was marred by two crashes: the first at a UCI World Cup event in Sydney, Australia, where he broke his arm; and the second at the UCI World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he dislocated his shoulder.

Boldt's central goal for the future is clearly focused on the 2012 Paralympics being held in London, England. As preparation towards this goal, Boldt plans to compete in several UCI Para-cycling world cups next May and June, a number of small stage races in Saskatchewan and Alberta (competing with able-bodied riders) and the Canadian National Road and Track Championships.

In addition to training year-round, Boldt is the Associate Vice-President, Academic & Research, for the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST), based out of Saskatoon, but with campuses in Prince Albert, Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon.

 

 

 

 

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