Abdellatif Baka of Algeria (second left) and the 1500m T13 field at the Paralympics hit the home straight in Rio. But the Algerian athlete could take some consolation in the fact that his time of 3:49.84 was faster than that run by the 1,500-meter victor in the same stadium at the Rio Olympics.
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The surprising bit however, is that had these four paralympians participated in the exact stadium last month, they would beaten Matthew Centrowitz Jr. of the USA for the Olympic gold medal.
The T13 class is one of three classes at the Paralympics for visually impaired athletes along with the T11 and T12.
Alegerian athlete Abdellatif Baka clinched the T13 1500m Paralympic Gold with a record time of 3:48.29.
However, the day belonged to gold medallist Baka, who not only ran a quick paced race full of energy and swagger, but also crashed the long standing record of Kenyan David Korir of 3 minutes, 48.84 seconds set in 2012, in London. New Zealand’s Nick Willis was third that night in a time of 3:50.24.
Baka was thrilled with his victory.
“It wasn’t easy to get this gold medal”, Paralympic champion Abdellatif Baka was quoted as saying by The Daily Mail.
I’d find a way to avoid going down to the shops if I bruised my foot, so I find it hard to imagine the incredible dedication and hard work it would take to become a world-class athlete if I was legally blind.
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Centrowitz’s shocking win was the first title in the event for the United States since Mel Sheppard won the “metric mile” more than 100 years ago at the 1908 London Games.
