Alex Beddoes (born 9 July 1995) is a runner and athlete from the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

who has represented the Cook Islands at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continent, continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 South Pacific Games, 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently i ...

, and

Pacific Mini Games The Pacific Mini Games are a continental multi-sport event contested by countries and territories located in Oceania. The event has been held every four years since the inaugural games in Honiara, Solomon Islands in 1981. It was known as the Sou ...

Career

Beddoes first participated in the Oceania Closed Junior Championships. There, he successfully defeated

Guamanian The Chamorro people (; also Chamoru) are the Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, a commonweal ...

Cory Morrison at

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. He competed in the

2013 Pacific Mini Games The 2013 Pacific Mini Games was the ninth edition of these Mini Games. They were held in Mata Utu in Wallis and Futuna from 2 to 12 September 2013. It was the first time the games had been held in Wallis and Futuna. Participating countries and t ...

Mata Utu Mata Utu (; , ) is the capital (political), capital city of Wallis and Futuna, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located on the island of Wallis Island, Uvéa (Uvea), in the district of Hahake District, Hahake, of which it is also the cap ...

, and then at the

2017 Pacific Mini Games The 2017 Pacific Mini Games were held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in December 2017. It was the tenth edition of the Pacific Mini Games, and the second to be hosted in Vanuatu (after 1993 South Pacific Mini Games, the 1993 games). Host selection Van ...

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

, where he won gold in the 800 meters. Beddoes competed in the Men's 800 metres at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, but finished ninth in his heat, for last place with a time of 1:52.76, and was eliminated. However, he did set a personal best. He was flag bearer for the

during the closing ceremony. Beddoes competed at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

in the Men's 800 metres. He finished 7th in his heat with a time of 1:51.64 but was eliminated. Beddoes participated at the

2019 Pacific Games The 16th Pacific Games (), also known as Apia 2019, were held from 7 to 20 July 2019. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The ...

. He won the men's 800 metres and the following day he also won the men's 1500 metres in 4 minutes and 3.14 seconds. In winning the men's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

gold medal he beat Papua New Guinean Messach Fred and Fijian Petero Veitaqomaki. Beddoes was selected to represent Cook Islands at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

in the Men's

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

. He competed in the

2023 Pacific Games The 2023 Pacific Games, officially known as the XVII Pacific Games and commonly known as Sol 2023 or Honiara 2023, was a continental multi-sport event for Oceania countries and territories held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November an ...

Honiara Honiara () is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. , it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies ...

, where he also coached fellow runner Rupeni Mataitoga. He won a bronze in the 1,500 meters.

Awards

* Beddoes won the gold metal in the

. * On 25 April 2019, Beddoes won the Emerging Talent Award from the

Oceania Athletics Association The Oceania Athletics Association (more commonly known as Oceania Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Oceania. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. Oceania Athletics has 23 ...

. The award was presented by president Erin Quirke and secretary Ruth Tangiiau Mave.

Nominations

* Beddoes was nominated for the Sportsman of the Year award at the Cook Islands National Sports Awards at the Edgewater Resort and Spa.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beddoes, Alex 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Rotorua New Zealand male middle-distance runners Cook Island male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for the Cook Islands Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for the Cook Islands Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Pacific Games gold medalists for the Cook Islands Pacific Games medalists in athletics Pacific Games bronze medalists for the Cook Islands 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen

Career

Awards

Nominations

See also

References

External links