LONDON, Sept 9: South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius ran away from the field in a record-setting win in the men’s 400 metres T44 final at the London Paralympics on Saturday, giving him his first individual gold medal of the Games.
Pistorius, 25, broke his own Paralympics record with a time of 46.68 seconds, finishing 3.5 seconds ahead of Blake Leeper of the US American David Prince was third with Brazil’s Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveria, who beat Pistorius in the 200m, fourth.
“I’m so proud, this summer has been a dream come true,” Pistorius, who last month became the first amputee runner to compete at the Olympic Games, said in an interview with Channel 4. “This is one of the biggest highlights of my life.”
Pistorius entered the Paralympics aiming for four gold medals and leaves with two. He anchored South Africa’s victory in the 400m relay, but finished second in the 200m and was fourth in the 100.
Meanwhile, China made history of lifting its Paralympic gold count to 95 in London 2012, refreshing the record of 89 set in Beijing 2008.
The record-breaking 90th gold was clinched by Xue Lei in the men's 100m T11 final. Xue, 24, crossed the finishing line in 11.17 seconds.
In Beijing 2008, host China dispatched 332 athletes to compete in all the 20 sports. In London 2012, China sent 282 athletes to 15 out of 21 sports.
China's biggest gold mine is track and field in which it dug out 33 golds in London, more than one third of its total. Swimming contributed 24 golds, followed by table tennis (14), wheelchair fencing (6), cycling track (5), shooting (4), and powerlifting (3).
Compared to China's traditionally-strong events of track and field, swimming, and table tennis, the Chinese cycling-track team stunned the world with seven of its eight cyclists crowned.
The Chinese cycling-track team coach Li Peng said: "We did not expect such a good result. In Athens 2004, we got only one gold. In Beijing 2008, we were empty-handed.”
“Here, we took five golds, the same as the event's traditional powerhouse and hosts Britain,” Li added.
Brazil defeated France 2-0 to win its third consecutive five-a-side soccer gold medal. Brazil also won gold in the mixed individual boccia BC2 and BC4 competitions.
Bosnia-Herzegovina gained revenge over Iran for their defeat in Beijing four years ago, clinching the men's sitting volleyball title 3-1.
Canada wrested the men's wheelchair basketball title back from their old foes Australia thanks to a dominant performance from the world's best wheelchair player, Patrick Anderson, in front of thousands of Canadian fans.
Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands teamed with Marjolein Buis to beat countrywomen Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 6- 1, 6-3 in the women’s tennis doubles final.
Noam Gershony won Israel’s first gold at the games by beating David Wagner of the U.S. 6-3, 6-1 in the quad singles wheelchair tennis final. American Victoria Arlen set a world record by winning the women’s 100m freestyle swimming S6 gold medal in a time of 1 minute, 13.33 seconds.
Former racing driver Alex Zanardi won his third medal of the games as part of the Italy team that took silver behind the US in the road cycling H1-4 relay. The 45-year-old, who lost both of his legs in a 2001 racing crash, previously won individual golds in the road race and time trial.—Agencies