On a blistering day of success for ParalympicsGB, which featured no fewer than seven golds, some of them won in front of a modest but raucous crowd at the Olympic Stadium, they served to transform the mood after the cloud of suspicion which had hung over Libby Clegg, who had to deny that she cheated on her way to victory in the T11 100m final.
But then, one by one, the golds kept coming – three in nine minutes at one stage – including for the British sprinters. The deluge began when Georgina Hermitage set a world record with a time of 13.13sec in the T37 100m, featured a maiden victory for Sophie Hahn in the T38 100m and ended with Jonnie Peacock making a triumphant defence of his T11 100m title with a Paralympic record of 10.81sec. In the swimming pool, Ellie Robinson, who is 15, won the 50m butterfly S6 in a record 35.58sec and Steph Slater won silver in the 100m butterfly S8. At the velodrome, Sophie Thornhill set a record and Jody Cundy also won gold.
Earlier in the day, however, there was major concern in the British camp when it seemed that Clegg’s world record was going to be scrubbed out after she was accused of guide assistance in her semi-final. That brief moment of panic felt like a trick of the imagination when Clegg returned to beat China’s Guohua Zhou by 0.02sec in the final, setting the tone for the British team, but it had been a very real crisis.
Clegg, who is visually impaired, drew gasps of admiration when she qualified for the final, only for officials to rule the 26-year-old had been pulled along by her guide, Chris Clarke, during the middle of the race and disqualify her. In an ironic twist, Clegg split with her former guide, Mikail Huggins, because she thought that he was too slow and replaced him with Clarke last year. Now the problem was her guide was too fast. After an anxious wait, however, Clegg was reinstated following an appeal by UK Athletics. Paula Dunn, the head coach of the British athletics team, said on Twitter that common sense had prevailed.
That meant Clegg was able to take her place at the start line for the final. The locals were hopeful Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina would defend her title but the home favourite was fourth and a gripping race ended with Clegg crossing the line in 11.96sec, which was 0.05sec slower than her time in the semi-final but just as satisfying.
Clegg admitted that the earlier stress had taken its toll. “I didn’t get the result until I got back to the village that I was allowed back in for the final,” she said. “It’s been a bit exhausting and I’m a bit tired. But it’s ended on a high. I’m pretty unpopular. I think I’m pretty unpopular from this morning anyway. It’s just one of those things. I thought they were going to protest Chris being so close on the line with me, because we know that we cut it fine. I never thought it would be through dragging.
“I would never want to dishonourably win a medal or cheat or break the rules in any way. I was a little bit upset that allegation had been made against me. I’m just glad I’ve got a fantastic technical support team that fought my corner.
Clegg was unsure who made the protest. “I have a hunch, but I’m not going to say,” she said. “It’s mean. I don’t take it personally because it’s not necessarily the athlete themselves. It could be their coach or head coach or whatever. I’m not taking it personally.”Clarke, the man in the middle of all that controversy, paid tribute to Clegg. “It was all her,” he said. Peacock’s race was slightly anti-climactic. The 23-year-old was too quick for New Zealand’s Liam Malone and Germany’s Felix Streng, while the USA’s dangerous Jarryd Wallace finished fifth. Those hoping that every competitor would finish in under 11 seconds for the first time in Paralympic history were left disappointed.
There was also a bronze in the T38 for Kadeena Cox, who could become the first British Paralympian to win medals in two sports in the same Games since Isabel Newstead in 1988. Cox ran in a time of 13.01sec. The 25-year-old, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after suffering a stroke two years ago, is also a world champion in cycling. She will be in the velodrome today and is the favourite to win the C4-5 500m time trial, although Dame Sarah Storey might have something to say about that. Back in the Olympic Park, Ali Jawad won his first ever Paralympics medal, lifting a personal best of 190kg to claim powerlifting silver behind Egypt’s Sherif Osman, who set a Paralympic record of 203kg. Jawad was denied silver in London by a judging controversy. “It’s taken four years and after what happened in London this feels like a gold medal and I think I’ve finally laid those ghosts to bed,” he said. “Sherif Osman is like the Usain Bolt of powerlifting so coming second to one of the greatest powerlifters ever isn’t so bad.”
Stef Reid won silver in the long jump while there were bronze medals for club thrower Gemma Prescott, powerlifter Zoe Newson and swimmers Susannah Rodgers and Lewis White.
