Wade Rudy displays all 14 medals he won at the 2010 Wyoming Senior Olympics. His six golds, six silvers and two bronzes were more than he expected, especially given the amount of experience he had prior to some of the events. GAZETTE PHOTO / Zach Zavoral

They say that practice makes perfect. They also say that perfection is needed to win a gold medal. Wade Rudy just made “they” look pretty dumb.

Rudy came home to Kemmerer from the 2010 Wyoming Senior Olympics last week with a total of 14 medals in the 55-59-year-old division: six gold, six silver and two bronze.

But Rudy surprisingly won those medals in a few events he barely practiced prior to the events.

For example, Rudy never took swimming lessons, nor had he ever swam much in his life, but he won gold medals in the 5-yard freestyle and 50-yard sidestroke. He also won silver medals in the 25-yard freestyle and sidestroke, respectively.

Rudy didn’t even warm up for his gold medal softball toss of 178 feet.

Perhaps the most surprising to Rudy himself was his gold medal javelin throw.

“I had never seen the javelin (event) in person. I’d seen an actual javelin, but I had only seen (the event) on TV,” Rudy said. “And I said ‘Well, let’s give that a shot, I’m pretty good at huckin’ stuff.’”

He said that prior to the Olympics, he received a couple tips from guys who’d been throwing the javelin for years. But on the track, Rudy topped both of those teachers.

Rudy heard about the Senior Olympics years ago, but didn’t become sincerely interested in entering the events until he decided that he wanted to compete in the triathlon. He’d been riding a bike and running his whole life, but swimming was his Achilles’ heel. He started practicing his swimming July 6, just two weeks before the Olympics. He won a silver medal at the senior Olympics in the triathlon with a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 55 seconds.

“I do everything in a sprint. I guess I’m a fast-twitch muscle kind of guy,” Rudy said.

The Wyoming Senior Olympics was a qualifier event for the national Senior Olympics. But Rudy said that he’s not sure any of his times would qualify for the national games. And even if they did, he said he’s not interested in going to the national games.

Because Rudy went to the Olympics not expecting to medal in almost every event he entered, his nerves were very calm, which may have helped his focus in the events. Instead of training for months leading up to the competitions, Rudy was able to nonchalantly approach the events without a care in the world.

A football player and wrestler in high school, Rudy has always been an athlete. And when feeling an opponent catching up to him in the 400-meter dash or the 50-meter dash, Rudy said that he felt the same competitive burst that he felt in his younger years of athletic competition.

For the complete article see the 07-29-2010 issue.

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