The swimmer Liz Johnson won Great Britain's seventh gold of day six of the Paralympic Games as she triumphed in the women's SB6 100 metres breaststroke.
The 22-year-old Swansea swimmer won in a time of 1min 41.87sec in her first event of the Games, the event coming at a difficult time after her mother, Bonnie, died of cancer on September 1.
"I've been fine all week, but it's been hard watching from the stands,"
Johnson said. "This morning [for the heats] everybody let me get on with it, then this afternoon they were like 'Do it for your mum' and I was crying. I think she'll be happy."
Johnson, the world record holder, was second four years ago and was pleased to justify her favourite tag this time around.
"When I was in Athens and won a silver medal, it was a big motivation to go out and train harder," added Johnson, who has cerebral palsy. "But going into the Paralympic trials I got a shoulder injury in my good shoulder, so for the last 20-22 weeks I've been mostly doing kick and with my disability, kick is not a good thing. I couldn't do any breaststroke at all."
Johnson's victory was the swimming team's ninth title at the National Aquatics Center and took Britain's haul to 33 golds, three behind the hosts China.
Rachel Morris, David Stone and Sarah Storey all triumphed as the dominance of Britain's cyclists continued before Sam Hynd won the first final of the evening at the National Aquatics Center in the men's S8 400m freestyle.
The 17-year-old from Kirby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, set a world record in the heats but went even faster in the final, clocking 4min 26.25sec for his second medal. Moments later the boccia team struck gold in the China National Convention Center Fencing Hall with victory over Portugal.
Elsewhere, Heather Frederiksen won her second silver medal of the Games. The 22-year-old from Lancashire, who won the women's S8 100m backstroke on Wednesday, was second in the women's S8 400m freestyle in 4min 54.49sec. The American Jessica Long, who set the world record in the heats, beat Frederiksen by 4.32sec for her fourth gold of the Games.
Gareth Duke won silver in the defence of his men's SB6 200 metres breaststroke title despite undergoing kidney dialysis while at the Paralympics. The 22-year-old from Cwmbran, Wales, clocked 1min 28.20sec in finishing second to Russia's Alexey Fomenkov, while Britain's Matt Whorwood won bronze in 1min 29.96sec.
Duke, the world record holder, has been undergoing treatment every other day in Beijing and was pleased with his performance. "If I wasn't on the treatment, I'd have been first, no problem," he said.
Duke hopes to be back to full health soon and is looking to reclaim his title in London. "I'm getting through it," he said of the treatment. "That's my number one - I want it, it's mine. In four years in London, I'm going to have it back."
