HODGETTS Todd

Date of Birth: 23 Mar 1988

Age: 33

Gender: Male

Sport Class: F20

Place of birth: LAUNCESTON, TAS

Birth Country:

Australia

Place of residence : MELBOURNE, VIC

Residence Country:

Australia

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Athletics	Men's Shot Put - F20	DNS

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Olympic Stadium - Standing Shot Put	Men's Shot Put - F20 Final	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
Paralympic Games
1	Shot Put - F20	2012	London, GBR	16.29
3	Shot Put - F20	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	15.82
World Championships
1	Shot Put - F20	2015	Doha, QAT	15.83
3	Shot Put - F20	2017	London, GBR	15.96
3	Shot Put - F20	2013	Lyon, FRA	15.17
9	Shot Put - F20	2019	Dubai, UAE	14.88

Hulkster, The Hulk. (paralympic.org, 28 Oct 2020; Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Occupation:

Massage Therapy - Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, AUS

Languages spoken:

Ringwood Athletics Club [Melbourne, VIC, AUS]

Other sports:

He has competed in weightlifting at state level in Australia. (paralympic.org.au, 01 Jan 2013)

He injured both his shoulder and elbow after the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. He underwent surgery on his elbow in early 2013 and was unable to throw for almost a year. (examiner.com.au, 23 Jul 2013)

He took up shot put as a child at his family home, and began competing at age 10 in Launceston, TAS, Australia. (paralympic.org.au, 01 Jan 2013; Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

He was encouraged to take up the sport by his brother, who had brought a shot put home. "My brother stole a shot put from school as a joke. The teachers were after the shot put, so my brother gave it to me at the bus stop. I took it home and because we had a 10-acre farm there was a lot of land and I chucked it on there. I loved it." (paralympic.org.au, 21 Jun 2012; themercury.com.au 04 Sep 2016)

To win a gold medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (Victorian Institute of Sport Facebook page, 09 Aug 2017)

Winning a gold medal in the men's F20 shot put at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. (paralympic.org.au, 30 Sep 2019)

Australian weightlifter Dean Lukin. (paralympic.org.au, 30 Sep 2019; Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Australian boxer Daniel Geale. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Philosophy:

"The first muscle to go is your head. If you get that right, thinking straight, and keeping all the negativity out of it, you can go until you're 40 years of age." (Victorian Institute of Sport Facebook page, 09 Aug 2017)

In 2016 he received the Personal Excellence Award at the Victorian Institute of Sport Award of Excellence ceremony in Australia. (Victorian Institute of Sport Facebook page, 30 Nov 2016)

He was named 2015 Male Para Athlete of the Year by Athletics Australia. (abc.net.au, 13 Apr 2016)

He received the Medal of the Order of Australia [OAM] in the 2014 Australia Day Honours for service to sport as a gold medallist at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. (paralympic.org.au, 26 Jan 2014)

General Interest

Classification
F20 (IPC, 22 Feb 2021)

Type of Impairment
Intellectual impairment (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Impairment Details
He was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age eight. "When I was born I had the cord around my neck and that created issues so I nearly died at birth. It starved my oxygen to the brain. [When I first realised I was different] was probably when the doctor told me that I was different. I didn't know that, I just thought I had ADD but no, I had something more extreme. I was eight years of age. It wasn't great. Then when I was 16 I said to the doctor 'Am I cured yet?' because I had more tests when I was 16. He just laughed. I didn't really want this. But I've got a proper family. They always stick together, they've got your back and proper families are like that." (paralympic.org, 28 Oct 2020; paralympic.org.au, 21 Jun 2012; news-nz.churchofjesuschrist.org, 11 May 2012)

General
PSYCHOLOGIST
He says he has worked with a sport psychologist to navigate his impairment. "[The psychologist] said, 'You've got to work on your strengths.' So, we're not looking at what I was born with, we're looking forward to the future. I'm still getting knockbacks now [speaking in 2020] with the COVID-19 situation and I am grateful to have him on board at this stage. He has answered all my questions about mental health, 'Why am I so honest? Why do I react like this? What's the studies behind autism and intellectual impairment?' He's very excellent." (paralympic.org, 28 Oct 2020)

INSPIRATION
He says he draws inspiration from watching sports movies. "Things happen for a reason if you work hard. I had a really nasty teacher. If I never picked up a shot put and she basically said I couldn't throw it right. She was probably right but I decided to train. All the Rocky movies and all the sport movies, it was bit like that. When I picked up a shot put in my hand, it was like a sword. I'm here to protect people and save the world type of thing. I wasn't very good, but I started to throw in my back yard and thought 'this is actually awesome! I'm good at something!' I was sick of people telling me I couldn't do things." (paralympic.org, 28 Oct 2020)

THE HULK
He acquired his nickname 'Hulkster' or 'The Hulk' while working out in the gym. "I was in my 20s when that happened and I was dropping weights and scaring the ladies in the gym. This guy called Big Dave said, 'We should call you The Hulk, like in wrestling,' and it stuck since then. He [US wrestler Hulk Hogan] used to take his shirt off and stuff and I used to do that in the gym when people annoyed me or thought they were stronger than me, I'd bite back and I am a fighter." (paralympic.org, 28 Oct 2020; Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event
DNS:: Did not start

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