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What started with heartbreak ended in jubilation for the Australian Paralympic Team on day five of competition at Tokyo, with Lauren Parker’s silver Para-triathlon medal and Madison de Rozario’s gold medal providing the biggest talking points.
The feats of Parker and de Rozario were closely followed by an amazing second win in two days by the Belles, Australia’s women’s goalball team who are now on the cusp of making the quarter finals for the first time.
Parker led the women’s PTWC triathlon for most of the race only to be overtaken in the last few metres to take second at Odaiba Marine Park in emotional scenes.
“This time four years ago I was laying in hospital bed thinking my life was over,” Parker said after the race, in which she was pipped by America’s Kendall Gretsch by 0.01 of a second after more than an hour of racing.
“I had amazing support around me and, if it wasn’t for that support, I wouldn’t have overcome that life-changing injury. I’ve overcome many surgeries and many obstacles over the last four years. I definitely never would have dreamed of representing my country four years later.”
Emily Tapp, the 2017 and 2018 World Champion, received 10 stitches after suffering a deep gash to her right leg when she collided with a barrier, withdrawing from the remainder of the race while David Bryant finished seventh in the final Para-triathlon race of Tokyo 2020, the PTS5.
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Australia’s fortunes changed later on when wheelchair racer de Rozario won the first gold medal for the athletics team at Tokyo 2020.
It was 0.46s shy of her world record but de Rozario showed her dominance over China’s Zhou Hongzhuan (silver) and Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner (bronze) by manoeuvring to the front in the back straight of the second lap and holding that lead to the finish line.
“For so long I’ve seen myself as only a silver medallist. Our sport revolves around the Paralympic Games. Your life as an athlete is all about that four-year cycle – you cannot escape it. Every decision is made towards getting a result here,” she said.
At the Para-Rowing, veteran Erik Horrie claimed his third silver medal in three Paralympic Games in the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls at Sea Forest Waterway. The second placing makes Horrie the most medalled rower in Paralympic Games history.
For Horrie, it was about sticking to the game plan that he had developed with his team.
“JB (coach Jason Baker) had said to me ‘Look, it’s a head wind, it’s not about the time it’s just about going through the process and if you make a little push at the 750m, make a little push at the 1000m, just believe in yourself and know that I’ve got the last 500m, the last 250m there’… so it was just believing in myself and never give in.”
The PR2 Mixed Double Sculls crew of Kathryn Ross and Simon Albury finished the meet with a comprehensive eight second win in the B Final, while it was heartbreak for the Australians in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four who came in fourth in the A Final, just missing out on a medal.
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Adding to the Para-Table Tennis medal count after Ma Lin’s silver last night, Simon von Einem claimed silver in the Men’s Singles class 11 after losing a tightly contested five-game match against 2012 Paralympic champion Peter Palos of Hungary (11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 9-11).
The Aussie came agonisingly close to claiming Australia’s first gold in Para-table tennis since 1984, with the final result only having two points separating the two men.
“Two silvers is amazing. If you had told me that I would have won two silvers when I started, I would have taken it with both hands,” von Einem said.
“So it’s still a fantastic achievement to get two silvers. The first one felt really good, this one I thought I could go that one more, but it just wasn’t to be”
Australia’s boccia players Dan Michel and Spencer Cotie continued their winning form in the second preliminary round.
Dual Paralympian Michel and Assistant Ash McClure delivered another strong result with an 8-2 win over Sweden’s Maria Bjurstrom.
“I feel really good, one thing I can take from that game if nothing else is my ability to respond to adversity, I experienced a bit of that out there today,” said Michel.
Teammate Cotie and Assistant Zoe Dix delivered back-to-back wins taking a 5-2 victory over Jamie McCowan (Great Britain).
It just wasn’t meant to be for the Steelers who will leave the Paralympic Games without a medal in wheelchair rugby for the first time in 17 years.
Japan recorded an emphatic 60-52 victory over the Australians in the bronze medal match, leaving Australian players and coaching staff overcome by emotion upon realisation that the most dominant reign in the sport’s history had come to end.
Captain Ryley Batt said: “We’re disappointed we couldn’t pull out more wins or make games closer. We tried but we’ve had a really good run, we’ve won two gold medals, we’ve won a silver. Unfortunately, teams can’t be at the top forever.”
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At the swimming pool, Jake Michel produced a new personal best and broke the Australian record for the Men’s 100m Breaststroke (SB14) on his way to a silver medal.
Standing at an imposing 190cm tall, ‘big red’ as he is affectionately known, said: “It’s crazy and it hasn’t sunk in at all, it was a fast race, really fast.
“I think my race went according to plan, I went out a lot faster and a lot tighter and the back end was a lot better so I’m happy.”
In further action last night, the Belles, Australia’s women’s goalball team, scored a huge 4-1 win over the World Champions representing the Russian Paralympic Committee, leaving them on the cusp of their first quarter final appearance. If China beats Canada on Monday, the Belles will advance.
Meanwhile, Australia’s wheelchair basketball teams each lost their respective pool matches. The Gliders women’s team went down to Canada 76-37 and the men’s team, the Rollers, lost to reigning Paralympic champions the USA 66-38.
View the Aussies in action on Day 6
By: Paralympics Australia
Posted: 30 August 2021
