The half century of victories is guaranteed thanks to an all-British wheelchair tennis final between Wimbledon champion Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett and confirmation of the mixed dressage team’s success. Both did so at the 1984 Games in NY, when the United States claimed 136 victories and Britain 107.
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Great Britain remained clear second behind China in the medal table at the end of the eighth day of competition. The 31-year-old who lives in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, crossed the line approximately one minute behind the gold medalist, Eoghan Clifford from Ireland. David Blair of the US took gold with a world record of 64.11m as GB’s Dan Greaves won bronze with 59.57m.
“I knew she was a diamond in the rough and there were places to go”.
She already had two silvers and a bronze under her belt, plus a gold with the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team from the night before.
“I was aware we were on 49 gold medals, it’s incredible for us to get so many gold medals and for me to help out with that tally is great”.
“The best ever away Games is a piece of history and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to reach that target so on early on at Rio 2016”.
And not only did our Paralympians win gold, they did so in style, setting new Games and world records in the process. The 17-year-old finished in 28.22 seconds, eight hundredths of a second quicker than the previous benchmark set by Australian Isis Holt in April.
Belgium’s Peter Genyn, a former wheelchair rugby player, won gold and Mohamed Berrahal of Algeria took silver.
Elliott was a bronze medallist at the London Paralympics, when aged just 13, and she climbed higher on the podium in Rio. “There were doubts during the week so to throw over 30 meters is fantastic”. The Cork woman won bronze at her first major championships when claiming bronze at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha 2015.
Without Evegnii Shetsov, who won both the 400m and 800m titles at London 2012 and another strong contender in Artem Arefyev, Blake admitted he felt the weight of expectation as the new favourite.
Greaves’ best was his penultimate throw of 59.57m.
The 42-year-old from Welwyn Garden City was inspired to get into archery by watching American Matt Stutzman competing at London 2012.
Ireland won four medals in the day – taking their tally to seven overall – and two gold medals in the road time-trials, to move to four golds. However, the 1-0 lead of Nigeria was thwarted when Rafal Lis beat Koleosho 3-2 in the first singles match to restore parity.
South Korea edged out Sweden 2-1 in the bronze medal match.
His wasn’t the only world record in the event – runner-up Hamed Amiri of Iran threw 11.40m to set the mark in the F54 category. Brazil’s Joana Maria Silva grabbed bronze in 1:23.21.
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British runner Georgina Hermitage won her second gold of Rio 2016 with a dominant display in the T37 400m final.
