Roderick Townsend-Roberts

The Jump Addict (Twitter profile, 01 Mar 2021)

Coach Jeff Petersmeyer. (recordnet.com, 22 Sep 2016)

"Where you are doesn't really matter when you really know where you want to be." (recordnet.com, 22 Sep 2016)

In June 2015 he was named Male Athlete of the Month by the US Olympic Committee [USOC]. (teamusa.org, 08 Jul 2015)

He competed in able-bodied athletics for Boise State University in Idaho, United States of America, having previously competed in decathlon for Delta Community College in Louisiana, Kentucky. He also captained his high school varsity American football team. (teamusa.org, 18 Oct 2015, 14 Aug 2015)

His wife Tynita Butts-Townsend has represented the United States of America in able-bodied high jump, and finished eighth in the high jump at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. (ky.milesplit.com, 25 Feb 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 06 Aug 2020; teamusa.org, 07 Nov 2019)

To win a gold medal in the high jump at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (teamusa.org, 07 Nov 2019)

He suffered permanent nerve damage to his right shoulder, neck and arm during birth. His right arm is significantly weaker thank his left as a result. "I was breached and the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck so the doctor had to break my collarbone and dislocate my shoulder. In doing so, he damaged all the nerves in my brachial plexus." (teamusa.org, 07 Nov 2019; news.nau.edu, 08 Feb 2018; recordnet.com, 22 Sep 2016)

RETIREMENT THOUGHTS
He considered retiring in 2018 as he felt burnt out after balancing work and his studies in the United States of America with competing in Para athletics. Instead, he decided to relocate from Arizona to Kentucky to work more closely with his coach Jeff Petersmeyer. "In 2018 I almost retired from track. I had already won two gold medals in Rio, set the world record multiple times, won world championships and I felt burnt out. After months of getting ready to throw in the towel, I finally took a second to ask, 'What my future self would think'? Up to this point, I was either a student-athlete or balancing working 50 hours a week as a coach along with a master's programme. I did not want to risk wondering what if anymore. Jeff Petersmeyer had coached me remotely for five years so I figured I'd go all in and make the move to be trained in person. I threw caution to the wind, and left my job at Northern Arizona University to relocate to Louisville, Kentucky, where I had no job, no place to live and no clue where the best pizza places were. I'm so happy I bet on myself and won. It would have been outside of my character to have given up because I felt uncomfortable." (teamusa.org, 30 Jun 2020)

HIGH STANDARDS
He won gold medals in the T47 high jump and long jump at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but said that he was unhappy with his performance in the high jump. "I was very disappointed with my high jump performance, especially going back and watching the film. It was really ugly. Being somewhat of a perfectionist I'm disappointed with the way I handled myself when it really mattered the most." (paralympic.org, 23 May 2017)

OCCUPATION
He has worked part-time as a substitute teacher, primarily in language, arts and maths, and has worked part-time as a pushback operator for American Airlines at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky, United States of America. He has also worked as a volunteer coach at the University of Louisville, and has served as a coach for his wife Tynita Butts-Townsend. (teamusa.org, 07 Nov 2019; recordnet.com, 04 Apr 2019)

FURTHER STUDIES
From 2015 to 2017 he completed a master's degree in educational leadership at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, United States of America. During the programme he also worked as a jumping coach at the university. (LinkedIn profile, 07 Apr 2017)